What the Snow Hides
by Poison-and-Foxglove
Summary: When Yuko sends Watanuki and Doumeki off to a ski lodge to deal with some spirits, Watanuki expects to deal with them quickly and enjoy some time learning to ski. Unfortunately, these aren't ordinary spirits and Doumeki makes some strange moves... DouWata
1. A Ski Resort?

**Disclaimer: Haven't you heard them all already? I don't own xxxHolic. If I did I wouldn't be writing stories. Doumeki and Watanuki would love each in the actual manga.**

**Poison:** Hey there. This is Poison from the conjoined account of Poison and Foxglove. Um, you probably don't know me though. I've only written one story. It's called It's a Wonderful Life. It's a GaaraxLee story, so if you like that pairing, please read it. It's only three chapters long, so it won't take much of your time. There's another story on there by Foxglove called Welcome to Ed's Black Parade and it's a RoyxEd story. If you like that pairing please read that and support her. Anyway, this story is going to be much more than three chapters. I want to put an actual story into this. Boy love stories that are short, sweet, and to the point are fine, but I like it when there's more development. This story is going to cross over with Tsubasa like it actually does. The main pairings are Doumeki and Watanuki, Kurogane and Fai, and Syaoran and Sakura. I'll try to update every week. Please enjoy!

"A ski lodge?" Watanuki asked hesitantly.

"Yes. Why sound so untrusting, hm?" Yuko asked. Watanuki frowned at the witch. What the hell did she mean by that? She was the last person he would ever trust. Ever.

"It just sounds like this errand might actually be fun. And you said I could bring someone. That means me and Himawari can have a romantic adventure!" Watanuki exclaimed, twirling around.

"Oh, did I say that? When I said you could bring a friend, I meant that I'm sending someone with you." Yuko said between puffs of smoke.

"What? Sending someone with me? Who?" Watanuki demanded.

A small, sinister smile formed on Yuko's ruby red lips.

"Why, Doumeki, of course."

Watanuki stared angrily out the window. No, no, no, no, no. There was NO way in all seven hells that he was going to be caught staying in a small cozy ski resort with a guy. Especially a guy he couldn't stand. He looked over longingly at Himawari. Oh, and she would look so cute in ski wear too! His thoughts were distracted by the bell.

He leapt from his seat and hopped over to Himawari.

"Himawari-chan! Here's your lunch. I tried something a little different. Instead of using teriyaki sauce on this like I normally do, I—"

He watched in horror as Doumeki's hand swiped down and grabbed a piece of food. He looked up to see him chewing silently.

Watanuki started choking him. "You give that back right now! I'll kill you, you stupid pig! That was Himawari's! Only a creep like you would enjoy taking from girls!"

Himawari's laugh tinkled into his ear. "It's fine, really. I was going to go off campus with some friends today, so Doumeki's more than welcome to have it." She got up to leave.

"Off campus? Um, ok. Well, then I'll see you later. We can walk home from school today, right?"

She was gone before she could answer. Watanuki sighed. Damn.

He looked over to see Doumeki munching away on the food he'd prepared with love for Himawari, sitting in her desk. He gave in and took the seat beside him, opening his own bento.

A note floated out. Curious, he opened it. _You'd better tell him about the "errand" or else. Love, Yuko (and Mokona!) _There was a little picture below the message of Mokona holding his head and his bloody body off to the side. He broke out in a sweat and gulped.

"Uh, hey. Hey, stupid," he said hesitantly to Doumeki.

"Mmm?" he replied with a mouth full of food.

"Um, Yuko says we have to do this thing next week since we have no school. But, uh, you're probably busy, so whatever," Watanuki said quickly while shoveling rice into his mouth.

"Nah. Not busy. What is it?"

Dammit, Watanuki thought. "There's some nasty spirits that are stuck hanging around this ski lodge. The owner came to her the other day and asked for her help. That's when she told me you had to come too. I don't want you to, but—"

"Yeah, I'll go. How much do I need to bring?" Doumeki asked.

Watanuki scowled. "Don't go around thinking that I _invited_ you or anything! If it were up to me, I wouldn't have anything to do with you. It's that darn Yuko that keeps forcing us to work together! Take whatever you want! I don't care. We're leaving early Saturday morning, so you better be ready! I don't want to have to wait for your slow butt! We're taking the bus because Yuko's too cheap to get anything else," Watanuki rambled angrily.

"How about I just stay the night so we can both get up and get ready?"

"Yeah, right! Like I'd let you stay in my house! Or like I'd want to stay in yours again!"

"Then how about we walk together from your house to the bus stop?"

"NO!!!"

"Watanuki, more snacks!" Yuko called from where she was reclining.

"Hold your horses! Gluttonous woman," he mumbled.

"What was that?" she growled from the other room.

"Nothing, your majesty."

He placed the small sandwiches he'd made on a platter and made his way into the other room. He'd barely placed the platter down when a blur of black leapt at the food.

"Don't you eat them all, Mokona," Yuko said, pulling the small fuzzy creature away. The witch took a healthy bite.

"Mmm! Delicious as always. You even remembered to bring me a drink!"

"It's milk, got it? It's not right to drink alcohol with sandwiches, ok?"

Yuko pouted a little, but drank the milk anyway, knowing she would make him bring her some brandy with her dinner later.

"So, I expect you told Doumeki about the errand, yes?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not happy about it, but I did it," he replied, becoming annoyed.

"Then you'd better begin packing. Tomorrow's already Friday. You'll need lots of warm clothing and lots of money so that you can bring back plenty of souvenirs!"

"Mokona wants souvenirs too!" she interjected, hopping about.

"I don't really have any warm clothes. I guess I'll go shopping tomorrow after school. Now that you think about it, I don't know how to ski either," Watanuki said absentmindedly as he scooped crumbs where Mokona had made a mess.

"Why don't you and Doumeki go shopping for ski wear together?" Yuko advised happily.

"Oh, that sounds nice, I—No!"

The next day, Watanuki was once again unfortunate to be eating alone with Doumeki. Himawari had left early that morning to visit family that she was going to stay with during the break. Even if I could've invited her, she couldn't have come anyway, he thought drearily to himself. She seemed to be moving further and further away from him and he was constantly running after her, but never getting remotely close. He couldn't let that get him down. He'd just have to try harder after the break. He wasn't going to let Doumeki beat him to it. He had to like Himawari. Why else would he hang around them constantly?

"Oi."

Watanuki ignored him.

"Oi," he said louder.

"I have a freakin' name, for the millionth time! It's Watanuki! Wa-ta-nu-ki!"

Doumeki interrupted him. "I don't have any ski wear. We should go shopping for some together after school."

Unbelievable, Watanuki thought.

"And WHY would I want to do that?" Watanuki asked in a smart-ass tone.

"Because you always manage to get into trouble when you go off by yourself," Doumeki replied without missing a beat.

"I am just FINE on my own, you big dumb oaf! I don't need to be watched over like a baby!" Watanuki yelled, waving his fist around.

Doumeki put his food down. "People who aren't babies know how to use their inside voice."

"I'M GONNA--!" He stopped himself before he could prove Doumeki right.

The bell rang. "Well, then I guess I'll see you then," Doumeki said, handing Watanuki his dirty bento box and chopsticks

"You keep dreamin', pal!"

Watanuki stepped out of his house with a pocketful of cash.

"I swear. That woman's going to make me go bankrupt," he mumbled as he locked the door to his house. He turned around and found himself face to face with Doumeki, standing about an inch away.

Watanuki screamed and leapt backwards.

"What the hell?! You scared the crap out of me! What's wrong with you?! What kind of creep stands around waiting outside of people's houses?!" Watanuki snapped, clutching his chest.

"Actually, I just got here. You're kind of deaf, aren't you? That must be why you yell all the time," Doumeki replied.

"I yell because you're too stupid to understand anything I say! Now, move," Watanuki said, pushing him aside and stomping off. Doumeki followed closely behind.

"Quit following me! I don't want to go shopping with you," Watanuki growled, speeding up.

"Just be quiet. We're buying ski wear. It's not like I asked you to marry me or anything," Doumeki said back.

Watanuki steamed but couldn't think of a worthy reply. Whatever, he thought. He angrily turned a corner and entered a sports goods store.

"Irrashaimase!" a boy about Watanuki's age said when they walked in. "What can I help you with today?"

"Um, I'm—"

"You mean _we're,_" Doumeki interrupted.

"—looking for ski wear," he continued, ignoring Doumeki.

"Right this way, sirs!" The boy skipped happily to a section further in the store. "Everything's right in this area! If you need anything, I'll be at the entrance!" He hopped away giddily.

Watanuki studied the jackets. He wanted to be warm, but he wanted something sleek and maneuverable.

"This one suits you," Doumeki said, pointing to one of the jackets. Watanuki stared in horror at the bright pink jacket that had a huge, overbearing, Hello Kitty face on it.

"It would look good with those ears you wore that one time," Doumeki continued, studying the size and price.

"No thanks, creep! I'm fine with this one," Watanuki snapped, grabbing a black jacket off the rack. He continued on to the goggles. He picked up a pair that looked nice and tried them on.

"Don't get those."

"Quit acting like my mother or something! I'll buy what I want!"

"They don't go right with your face shape. They'll feel uncomfortable after a while. Try these."

He tossed a different pair to him. Watanuki reluctantly put them on. They really did feel better, but he wasn't about to admit that. What the hell did Doumeki know about his face shape anyway? He added the goggles to his basket anyway.

After about half an hour of grueling searching and trying on outfits, they were finally ready to pay. Watanuki had selected a sleek and slimming outfit that consisted of a black jacket, black pants, a black ski cap, dark blue goggles, dark blue earmuffs, and dark blue gloves. Doumeki chose a matching outfit that was gray and brown instead of black and dark blue. They paid for their things and exited the store.

"I love this ski wear! I feel like I'm actually ready to go skiing. I hope I'm able to and Yuko doesn't just work me the entire time. I hear that the lodge is pretty nice too—" Watanuki cut himself short. He'd gotten so caught up in the excitement that he forgot that he was walking with a guy he despised. He looked over and saw a small smile on Doumeki's face.

"Don't you look so smug! I'm just excited, ok? I've never been skiing before," Watanuki said quickly.

"Never? That's kind of sad. So you don't know how to ski?"

"No, I don't. But I can learn just like everybody else!"

"I could teach you if you want."

"Hell no!"

They reached a turn where they usually split off. Watanuki turned defiantly and walked away quickly. Finally he'd be able to have some peace before he went off to Yuko's to cook dinner and do a few more chores before he left. He entered his house.

"I'm home," he said, listening to his voice echo through the emptiness. He went straight to his room and began packing. Should he clean the house before he left? Nah, it would be fine. It was usually already clean anyway. He was a very neat person. Hmmm, books for the bus ride, he thought. Yes, he would find a seat far from Doumeki and read peacefully all the way up there. He threw some novels he hadn't read yet in his bag along with some manga just in case. He threw a few more things in and closed his suitcase. He was glad he was someone who packed light. That Doumeki's such a savage, he probably only needs the shirt on his back, Watanuki thought humorously to himself. He thought for a moment that maybe he should call him to make sure he packed all the right things. Not that he cared. He just didn't want to end up sharing a toothbrush with that guy or something. Yuck.

Watanuki whistled as he strolled out the door to head to Yuko's shop. He was blessed with the fact that he had no homework over the break. I'd better hurry, he thought. It's kind of dark.

Dark. Oh god. That's when spirits liked coming out. He broke out in a nervous sweat and sprinted all the way to the shop. He managed to make it there without running into any. He wiped his brow.

"I'm here," Watanuki called.

"Watanuki! Watanuki!" Maru and Moro sang, skipping over to him in unison.

"The mistress is hungry!" Maru said, tugging at his sleeve.

"Come quickly!" Moro said at his other side.

"Sheesh. It's not gonna kill her to wait a while longer for me to cook something," he said as they pulled him along.

Yuko was in the next room, sprawled on her recliner. "No food… death is near… Watanuki forgot about feeding me…" the witch moaned.

"Oh please! What a drama queen!" Watanuki exasperated, entering the kitchen. Mokona could be heard comforting Yuko. Watanuki quickly threw something together with what was left. Fish and fruit. Hmmm. He cooked some fish in pineapple juice and sliced fresh mango that he placed on the fish. As a side dish, he sliced some apples and pears and quickly made a small bowl of sweet sticky caramel.

"I hope this is okay. This is all that was left," he said, carrying the food into the room. But of course they ate it all up quickly.

"You know what would go good with all this fruit? Some grape wine! There's some in the kitchen. Go fetch it," Yuko said, waving her hand at Watanuki. He rolled his eyes and did as she asked.

After the witch and the others had stuffed themselves and lied around for a while, Yuko got up.

"I have some things for you to bring with you on your errand." She walked over to an old _tansu _chest and opened one of the drawers. She pulled out a lucky rabbit's foot and an old rusty doorknob.

"Here you are."

Watanuki stared at the objects. "What the heck do I need these for? Does the rabbit's foot do something?"

"No. It's just a boring old rabbit's foot that you could get at any old thrift store."

"I don't get it. I feel kind of weird taking a rabbit's foot and an old doorknob with me."

"Just keep them with you. Don't lose them, got it?"

Watanuki was skeptical, but he was smart enough to know not to go against the witch. She always knew what she was doing.

"Alright. Sure."

"Good boy. Now go on home and get a good night's sleep."

Watanuki walked cautiously through the dark. He couldn't run because it was too dark to see anything. He clutched the rabbit's foot. He didn't really believe in lucky charms (amazingly enough) but he hoped it would work anyway. Fortunately, he soon found himself in front of his house without having met any spirits. Relieved, he unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

"Ah. Home," he said, kicking off his shoes and putting on house slippers.

"Took you long enough. Where have you been?"

Watanuki leapt high enough to kiss the sky. To his left was Doumeki, sitting on the floor and quietly reading a book. Watanuki exploded.

"HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY HOUSE!!!???" he demanded.

"Back door was open."

Watanuki slapped himself in the face. Why didn't he remember to lock _all_ the doors?

"Well, get out!"

"Can't. It's too late. Too dark."

"You can make it home! You're a big boy!"

"Nah. I'm tired. Besides, it's easier this way. We can wake up at the same time and leave for the bus together."

"I don't care what's easier! Hey! Don't you climb in my bed!" Watanuki shouted as Doumeki rolled into his futon. Doumeki patted the space beside him.

"There's enough room."

"That's ok! I'll sleep on the couch," Watanuki grumbled.

"Suit yourself." Doumeki fell asleep instantly.

"Stupid creepy jerkface asshole punk retarded…" He continued to mumble as he brought a blanket over to the couch and lied down. He was surprised to find that he was exhausted and soon slipped into sleep as well.

Watanuki rolled over and moaned. Was it morning already? He felt sore. Must be from sleeping on the couch, he thought. He rolled over again so that he was facing the back of the couch and tried to fall back asleep.

"Hey. You awake?"

Watanuki forced his eyes partway open and turned to see Doumeki standing over him.

"No," he said simply and turned back around.

"You'd better get up. We'll be late," Doumeki said, shaking Watanuki.

"Don't touch me," he mumbled sleepily. He looked at his watch. It was 5:00.

"You've got to be kidding me. The bus doesn't come for another two hours. Wake me back up at 6:00. Or maybe 6:30," he finished with a yawn.

"That's not enough time."

"Sure it is. I get ready quickly."

"No. You have to make snacks for the bus ride."

"Make your own and let me sleep!"

Doumeki went silent. Watanuki thought he had given up and worked on going back to sleep. He took a deep comforting breath and snuggled his head into the couch. Just one more hour…

Watanuki wheezed. He felt the air being knocked out of him. What the…? He opened his eyes to see Doumeki sitting on him.

"Get off! Come on! Get off!" It was no use. Doumeki was too heavy and he was too tired to fight back.

"Fine, fine! I'm up, okay? I'll make your damn snacks. Just get off! I can't breathe," he whined.

Doumeki did as he was told and let Watanuki stumble off the couch and into the kitchen. What's good for long bus rides? Obviously something that's okay at room temperature. Then again, it was cold where they were going so he should at least put some hot chocolate and tea in a couple of thermoses. He figured rice balls would be good. He set up the rice cooker and continued to look around the kitchen. He pulled out an egg carton and began making deviled eggs. He was just sprinkling on some spices when the rice cooker went off. He shaped ten flawless rice balls and came to find that there was a good amount of rice left over. He pulled out some fish, seaweed, and more eggs and made sushi with it. That should be enough, he thought. He began boiling some water and pulled out four thermoses for tea and hot chocolate.

"I like my tea plain," Doumeki said from the kitchen table.

"Good. You're not worth wasting sugar on," Watanuki snapped back. He rubbed his eyes. He hated being awake this early. The dark was unsettling and the tile was always freezing. He finished throwing everything together and grabbed his clothes.

"Where ya going?" Doumeki asked.

"Shower," he mumbled back.

"Make sure you dry your hair all the way. You don't want to catch a cold."

"Yeah, whatever!"

"Don't use all the hot water either. I'm getting in after you."

"Oh, I'm gonna use _all_ the hot water!"

Watanuki slammed himself into the bathroom. "Oh, wait. I forgot that idiots don't catch colds," Doumeki said to himself.

The bus rumbled up to their stop. Watanuki fished the two tickets out of his pocket and gave it to the apathetic, heavy-set looking bus driver. Watanuki was happy to see that there was hardly anyone on the bus and that he could sit far away from Doumeki. He walked down the coach bus and took a seat in the middle next to a window. He sunk into the cushiony seat and relaxed. Unfortunately, Doumeki took the seat conjoined with him.

"Go sit somewhere else," Watanuki said harshly.

"That would be inconvenient since we're getting off at the same stop."

Watanuki pulled out a book and began reading. Doumeki did the same and Watanuki was glad to have it so peaceful. The bus motor hummed pleasantly in his ears and soon he was unaware of any other presences.

They stopped at various stops and more and more people got on. Strangely enough, the quiet stayed. There weren't any little kids on the bus to scream and cry. After a couple of hours, Watanuki's eyes grew tired and he put his book down.

"Hey. Wanna play?"

Watanuki looked over to see Doumeki holding an electronic hand held Go game.

"No thanks. I'm not very good."

"Come on. Just one game."

He scrutinized the game and gave in. It was better than having to listen to him nag. As expected, Watanuki was true to his word and wasn't very good at all. He lost right away and ended up playing Doumeki five more times before giving up. Frustrated, Watanuki shoved his face in his book again.

"Hey. I'm hungry."

"The food's in the blue bag in the overhead compartment."

"It's closer to you."

Watanuki breathed heavily through his nose and slammed his book shut. He stood up and reached for the bag when the bus hit a bump and Watanuki's head slammed into the overhead compartment.

"God dammit!" he yelled, rubbing the sore spot. He grabbed the bag quickly and threw it at Doumeki. Doumeki opened one of the boxes and bit into a rice ball.

"You okay? You should be more careful," Doumeki said with a mouth full of rice.

"If you're going to ask, at least ask before stuffing your face! Don't talk with your mouth full. You're gonna get rice everywhere!" Watanuki growled, handing Doumeki a napkin. Doumeki took it and wiped his mouth.

"Domo."

"At least say arigato! We're not _that _close."

Doumeki ignored him and continued eating. Watanuki felt his stomach rumble and took some for himself as well. Doumeki finished his share and leaned back. He looked extremely tired and the food didn't do much to help. Watanuki wondered how early he'd been up this morning. What a freak, he thought. Watanuki cleared off all of the boxes and eating utensils and placed them back in the bag. He threw the bag back in the overhead compartment and plopped into his seat. He felt something fall onto his shoulder and saw that Doumeki had fallen asleep.

"You've got to be kidding me! Hey, get off! Lean your seat back and sleep! Hey, wake up!"

The sleeping boy didn't budge and Watanuki couldn't move him. "This sucks," he grumbled. He couldn't use his left arm now to turn pages in his book. He glanced out his window and took in a sharp intake of breath. They were out in the country now and there were grassy hills everywhere. Mountains stood majestically in the background and a river wound its way through the land.

"It's so beautiful," Watanuki whispered to himself. He continued to gaze out the window until he felt his eyes shut on their own.

The sun had been keeping him warm, but now it was positioned in his eyes and Watanuki woke up. He was surprised to see that he was lying down and that he had a blanket over him. He felt his face and found that he wasn't wearing his glasses either.

"Hmmm?" he moaned sleepily and rolled onto his back.

"Ah. You're finally awake. Not much of a morning person, are you?"

Watanuki stared in horror up at Doumeki's face. His head was in his lap and one of his arms was around Watanuki's waist, most likely to keep him from falling off of the seat. Watanuki shot up and scooted as far as he could against the window.

"What the hell?! Where are my glasses? What were you doing? That was weird!" Watanuki was too freaked out to be angry. His heart thudded and he felt light-headed. Doumeki handed him his glasses and he struggled to put them on because his hands were shaking. Doumeki was staring hard at him. Luckily, he was saved by the bus intercom.

"Upcoming stops: Kikuchi Lodge, Kamakura, Nara…" Kikuchi Lodge. That was the lodge where they were staying. It was a good thing he'd woken up. He pulled the string above the window and there was a soft ping.

"Stop requested for: Kikuchi Lodge," the electronic voice droned. Watanuki leaned against the back of his chair and took a deep breath. He would just forget what happened. He looked over to see a couple of girls his age staring at them and blushing. He massaged his temples. Fan girls.

"You two are going to Kikuchi Lodge?" The man who had been sitting in front of them turned around and talked to them.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Watanuki asked.

"That's a pretty nice place. It doesn't seem like boys your age could afford something like that."

"Oh, well, actually my boss is paying for it."

"That's awful nice of your boss. You _have _heard the rumors haven't you?"

Watanuki was intrigued now. "No. Do explain."

The man looked around nervously. "That place is haunted. Not just like a little poltergeist or nothin', but the scary kind that's in nightmares. People even gone missing afore. You should be careful. Two nice boys like you shouldn't get involved in that kind a stuff," he finished with wide eyes.

"Now stopping at: Kikuchi Lodge."

Watanuki and Doumeki grabbed their things and headed off the bus. Watanuki tripped going down the bus steps and Doumeki caught him from behind. Watanuki pulled away quickly and walked as fast as he could.

"Hurry up," he called back to Doumeki, growing more and more afraid of Doumeki's strange behavior. He didn't have a lot of time to worry about that though. He stopped in front of the lodge and stared. Doumeki came up beside him and looked as well.

"Wow."


	2. A Rocky Start

**Poison:** If you find this chapter boring, don't worry. This was just a filler. In the next chapter, they're going to get on with their mission and a lot of stuff is going to happen. And all you impatient yaoi fangirls, just wait. There will be man love. And it will be sweet. If their love really means that much to you, you can afford to wait a little longer. If anyone's reading this, thank you very much. Please review. Oh yeah, and Toa's an important character. Remember him.

"Wow."

Wow was right. The resort that stood in front of them was so big that they couldn't see the entire thing without turning their heads all the way left and right. There were a ton of buildings of different shapes and sizes dotted all about the mountain area and the buildings ended where a deep forestry of pine tree began. The trees stretched for miles.

"What kind of ski lodge is this?" Watanuki whispered to himself.

The bus doors squeaked shut behind them and it rumbled off, wheezing and coughing up exhaust. There was no turning back now. Watanuki looked up at the large stretch of concrete that led from the bus stop to the lodge and began the trek with Doumeki in tow. There were wooden arrow signs along the path that said things like "welcome!", "please enjoy your stay!", "you're almost there!" and "this is everyone's planet! Please don't litter!" When they reached the entrance, they were greeted by two identical girls with desert rose-colored hair that was short and wavy and eyes of the same color. They had white form-fitting uniforms of long-sleeved dresses that stopped above the knee that had brass buttons running up and down them. They had thick white tights around their legs and dainty white shoes that pointed at the toes. The uniforms were high collar and the collars had a glittery gold trim. Also on the collars were the kanji for Kikuchi.

"Irrashaimase!" they said in unison while bowing. "Please enter this way!" They gestured towards the two large glass doors that opened on their own. A wave of warm air flowed pleasantly onto Watanuki and Doumeki and they stepped inside.

The room they stepped into was colossal. To their right, there were red fluffy couches scattered throughout a large room with numerous coffee tables piled over with magazines. Women identical to the ones that had greeted them were walking around handing out hot cocoa with choices of marshmallows whipped cream, and ginger spice. There was soft piano music playing and on the far right wall, there was a large fireplace that took up the entire wall and heated the entire area. To their left, there were bars, smoothie stands, coffee stands, and eating areas with TV's. Amongst all of this, they managed to spot the main desk. As Watanuki headed that way, he shivered. It was exceptionally warm in the room because of the fireplace, but he was suddenly overcome with the shakes. It almost felt like he was soaking wet. He felt his clothing, but he was completely dry. He looked over at Doumeki, who was still standing by the door, but he seemed unaffected. When Doumeki finally followed him over, the feeling was gone. It must be spirits or something if it goes away when Doumeki's here, Watanuki thought.

When they reached the front desk, they were immediately greeted by a warm smile from yet another woman with locks of desert rose and the white uniform.

"Welcome to Kikuchi Lodge. What can I do for you today?"

"Wow. There sure seem to be a lot of you," Watanuki joked. He squinted at her name tag. It read Tanaka.

"Well, at least you all have name tags!" he said, laughing.

"Oh, but we're all named Tanaka," the woman replied.

"Huh? Really? Then, uh, what's your first name?"

"Hiroko. My I have your name so that I can check you in?"

"Certainly. The room is under the name Yuko Ichihara."

"One moment please."

The woman clicked the name into her computer and scrolled down with her mouse. She double-clicked gently and scanned the screen.

"Ah. You are the ones here to see the owner, Kikuchi-sama, yes?" she asked.

"Yes," Watanuki replied professionally.

"He will not be here until Monday, so please feel free to enjoy yourselves for the rest of today and tomorrow. Now for your room."

Her eyebrows lifted. She turned to get the key. She walked towards the wall that had an assortment of sleek card keys and even passed the assortment of traditional door keys. She used a key of her own to open a small drawer. Watanuki watched in interest while Doumeki continued to scan the area. It took some effort to rattle the old drawer out and dust particles floated into the air. She daintily pulled out a large brass key and blew the dust off of it. She took another moment to shove the drawer back in and lock it back up.

"Here you are," she said, handing Watanuki the huge key.

"What is this? I don't understand. Why does our key look like this?" Watanuki asked all at once.

"It appears that the room you have booked is a special one. It's one of our oldest. No one's stayed there for quite a while. It's one of our hah-nii-mu suites."

"Hah-nii-mu?" The foreign word came out awkwardly. "What's that?"

"I'm sorry. I thought you would have known since you're the one who booked it."

"Actually, my boss booked it," Watanuki said, growing nervous.

"What a wonderful boss! She must be so happy for you! Although, she chose a rather interesting hah-nii-mu theme."

"What exactly is hah-nii-mu?"

"Why, it's an English word. It means shinkon-ryokō (AN: this is Japanese for honeymoon)."

Watanuki felt some of his hair turn white and fall out. "What?" he whispered.

"It's the special "Survive the Harsh Wilderness with Your Loved One!" themed honeymoon suite. It's pretty far out, but we provide a shuttle between here and there. Oh! I'll have to call one of our shuttle drivers and tell them that we have guests in that room." She quickly picked up her desk phone and dialed away.

While she chatted happily, Watanuki looked sourly off into the distance. He checked his watch. It would probably be about half an hour before the next bus came that could take him home. He could lounge around here a bit and hop on the bus when it came. Without Doumeki. When the woman was done with her call, he asked right away.

"Excuse me, but when is the next bus that leaves the lodge?" Watanuki asked as politely as he could.

"It should arrive in about—" She was cut off by her desk phone ringing.

"Hello, Kikuchi Lodge, front desk. Yes. Yes. Really? How strange. Yes, I'll tell anyone who needs to know. Yes. Thank you. Good bye." She hung up and gave Watanuki a regretful look. "I'm sorry sir, but I just got word that there was an incredible rain in this area. The ice on the streets is incredibly thick and probably won't thaw for a few days or longer if it keeps raining like that. Fortunately, for some reason, the rain isn't hitting one inch of the lodge's land. Must be thanks to our wonderful Kikuchi-sama," she finished with a smile.

How is that possible? It can't be natural, Watanuki thought. Then it occurred to him. Yuko must've paid off that Ame-Warashi. He ground his teeth in frustration.

"Hey. We going yet?" Doumeki asked from behind. "We've been standing here forever."

"I'm so sorry, sir," Hiroko apologized. "Everything is in order. Please let me lead you to your shuttle stop." She came out from behind her desk and gestured for them to follow her.

"Shuttle stop?" Doumeki asked.

"I'll explain later," Watanuki whispered back.

They stopped in front of a large glass door.

"Before we continue, I'd like to tell you about our facility. This here is the main building where we serve all meals. However, there is also food provided in all the rooms and even yours is being stocked with food as we speak. We have several other buildings for you to enjoy as well. We have a children's building, a massage/therapeutic building, an entertainment building, a workout building that includes yoga, pilates, and more, a technological building where you may use a computer or other device, and our instruction building where the basics are quickly taught before taking you out on the slopes. Every building includes soft couches, fire places, provided hot cocoa, and a gift shop. There are maps all around our facility, so please check one of those if you feel you don't know where you're going. We also have man-made onsens outside for your pleasure."

"Onsens? (AN: Most of you probably know, but in case anyone doesn't, this means hot springs)" Watanuki asked, his spirits lifting a little. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Doumeki was thinking the same thing, but for a different reason.

Hiroko continued through the door and led them a short way to an old rusty pole with a sign that said Honeymoon Suite #13. Watanuki gulped. He didn't like the look of that 13. A small sleek silver shuttle the size of a smartcar glided up and stopped at the pole. The doors opened to reveal a cheerful young man with short light brown hair and matching eyes. He wore the white uniform as well, but with long, crisp, white pants and a white cap on his head.

"Hello there! My name is Yamada and I'll be your shuttle driver during your stay." He handed them two little silver pagers. "Just page me when you need to be taken back and forth! Please hop on!"

Hiroko waved them off and they climbed on. There were two large seats behind the driver's seat that Watanuki and Doumeki plopped into. The shuttle began to move.

"So, you're the ones who booked the honeymoon suite, eh? It's a bit strange seeing that both of you are… uh, so young!" Yamada said, editing his last words. Watanuki scowled at the back of his head. "You guys must be brave to pick out this one though. They're not kidding when they call it the Survival Suite! But, it looks like you've got a big strong man with you, so I'm sure you'll be fine!"

Watanuki fumed at the comment Yamada gave Doumeki. Big strong man his ass! Watanuki tried to change the subject.

"Yamada, huh? I was certain your name was going to be Tanaka," he joked.

"Oh, no. However, there are just as many Yamada's here as Tanaka's."

"What? Do they all look like you too?"

"Pretty much!"

"Then what's your first name?"

"Kenji."

Watanuki decided to drop the subject. He didn't want to think about how any of that was possible. After another moment of silence, the shuttle came to a stop at another rusty pole.

"Here we are. Just go up that way a little bit and you'll see it. Don't forget about those pagers I gave you! Good luck!" The shuttle rolled away and they were left alone.

"Well, there's no point in just standing here. Let's—"

Doumeki was already walking off without him.

"Hey! Wait!"

"You talk too much."

Watanuki swore under his breath and ran to catch up. They crunched through the snow up a small hill and through some trees where they reached a clearing. There in the clearing sat a small shack that was leaning sharply to the side. The rotting wood that was holding it up looked as if it might collapse at any minute. The roof didn't even look like it was properly attached. Watanuki approached the shack slowly. The door was misshapen and didn't fit the frame quite right, so he had a hard time opening it. The inside was completely dark except for a single burning candle. Taking baby steps so as not to trip, Watanuki went to the candle and read the note beside it.

_There are no windows and no electricity, so there is a large stock of candles and matches. Please let us know if you run out._

_Kikuchi Administration_

"Great. Just what I wanted. To live like cavemen. Doumeki, hand me some more candles and matches. I can't see anything," Watanuki said squinting around the shack.

Watanuki was feeling the top of the table and had felt out two wooden chairs when he felt body heat on his back and someone else's hand touch his. He flinched and banged his knee into the table.

"Jeez, you spaz. What's wrong with you?" Doumeki asked calmly. "I was just trying to hand you some candles and matches," he lectured, grabbing Watanuki's hand and shoving three candles and matches into it.

"You scared me, okay? It's dark in here and you didn't give any warning!" Watanuki said with a quivering voice. He was becoming paranoid. Using the small light from the one candle that was burning, he lit the other three and placed them in candleholders about the table. They now had a good view of the entire shack. Or rather, a _view _of it. The table stood in the center. Behind it was a small gas stove with a few ancient-looking iron cooking utensils hanging from the wall. Beside the stove was a stack of dishes and chopsticks as well as silverware and cups. There were cabinets beneath the stove that most likely held the food stuffs. On one side of the shack, strangely, there was nothing but mounds of coal. The mystery was soon solved when they noticed that there was a coal-powered oven blazing softly on the other side.

"Wonderful. At least we won't freeze to death!" Watanuki jeered sarcastically. To his dismay, also on that side of the room, was an old futon. Just one. And it looked small.

"No way," Watanuki croaked, close to tears. He got down on his knees and looked at the blanket covering it. "Why are there hearts all over this thing?!"

"Maybe because this is a honeymoon suite, moron."

"I'm sleeping on the floor!"

"Not gonna happen. This floor is filthy."

Watanuki clutched the blanket as tight as he could in his fist.

"Stupid Yuko! You cheap baaaaaaaaaaaatttttttt!" The world shook with Watanuki's sorrow.

* * *

Watanuki found it hard to sleep that night, and not just because he was sharing a bed with Doumeki either. He had an eerie feeling about the shack and it made him afraid to close his eyes for even a second. When he did fall asleep, he was plagued with strange dreams. One in particular. In the dream he found himself standing outside in the snow. Snowflakes flurried past his face and splashed onto his glasses. In front of him were three figures. They were small, so he assumed they were children. They stood still for a moment, and then took off running.

"Hey! Wait!" Watanuki called as he chased after them. However, he felt like he was running through water and lost sight of them. The last thing he saw were pearly white smiles plastered on their black faces as they looked back at him one last time and laughed. Next thing Watanuki knew, he was falling, falling, falling…

The dream ended just like that. It wasn't a completely abrupt end in which case he would shoot awake. It was more like a gradual coax. Something was pulling him out.

He turned around and opened his eyes slowly to find Doumeki no further than an inch away from his eyes. Doumeki's eyes flicked open and Watanuki gasped and rolled off of the futon.

"W-what th-the hell, m-man?" Watanuki said between gasps.

"'Bout time," Doumeki grumbled. "You were moving around and groaning all night. I figured you were having a nightmare, so I moved a little closer. You stopped, so I decided to stay where I was."

"Well at least face the other way so I don't have to wake up to your stupid face," Watanuki snapped, putting his glasses on. He stretched and stood up, feeling how freezing the floor was. He felt his way over to the door and shoved it open. Sunlight beamed in.

"No reason to waste any candles when we can just use sunlight," Watanuki said, smiling at how optimistic he was being. His optimism was broken by Doumeki.

"Hungry. What's for breakfast? I feel like having a western breakfast," Doumeki said, sitting cross-legged on the futon.

"You can get breakfast yourself in the lodge. I came here so that I wouldn't have to cook or clean for a week," Watanuki told him while he changed.

"I prefer home-made."

"Too bad!"

They had found out the previous day that there was an outhouse beside their shack but thankfully also a shower with running hot water. At least they had some modern decency on their side. The only problem was that it was really small and very hard to dress and undress in (they obviously can't run around in their skivvies in the snow.)

Slightly disgruntled, Doumeki followed Watanuki outside. He had already paged the shuttle and now they were waiting.

"What are you wearing all that for?" Doumeki asked.

"This? Oh, I plan on skiing. It seems today might be one of the only days we get to enjoy since the owner is going to be back tomorrow. So I'll do what I want to do, and you do what you want to do. Just make sure that whatever it is, it's far from me," Watanuki said with a bratty attitude.

"What, so you can't start shaking again? Fat chance."

The shuttle pulled up before Watanuki had the chance to snap back.

"Howdy-ho there, fellas! Hop on! The wonders of the Kikuchi Resort await you!" Yamada exclaimed cheerfully. They climbed on and took their seats.

"What do you guys planning to do today?" he asked when the two in back remained silent.

"Ski," Watanuki said quickly.

"What about you, big fella?"

"Same."

"Ah. Sounds fun. Don't forget to visit our learning facility if this is your first time skiing." They reached their stop and piled off. "Have fun! See you later!"

After being led by one of the Tanaka's, Watanuki and Doumeki reached the ski instruction building. Watanuki was relieved to hear that the lessons came with the room and that he didn't have to pay extra. He entered through the sleek glass door slowly and to his dismay saw that most of the people being taught in the room were either little kids or old people. He felt really lame. He was approached by a Tanaka.

"Hello. Are you here for ski instructions?" she asked politely.

"I am. He's not," Watanuki said, throwing a sour look behind him.

"Right this way. We have an instructor open who's just right for you. He's close to your age."

They were led over to the other side of the room where they met the instructor. "Toa, we have a student for you."

Toa turned to look at them. He had long black silky hair held up in a sporty ponytail and his skin was the color of light coffee. He had wild black eyes and a lop-sided grin spread across his face. "Hey man, nice to meet ya. I'm Toa. Who're you?" he asked, extending a gloved hand.

Watanuki hesitated a little. This guy was just so… cool! His vision of him sparkled. Watanuki grabbed Toa's hand with both of his and shook it violently. "It's wonderful to meet you! You're so cool!"

Toa chuckled and ruffled Watanuki's hair. "Alright, alright. I ain't that cool. Now, shall we begin your lessons?"

"Yes! Yes!" Watanuki exclaimed jumping up and down.

"Alright then. The first thing we're going to work on is form…"

Doumeki watched angrily from against a wall. He didn't like the look of this Toa guy one bit.

"So, I stand like this?" Watanuki asked, awkwardly holding his skis.

"Nah. Do it like this." Toa embraced Watanuki gently from behind and grabbed his hands. He positioned his hands correctly and straightened his posture. "There! That's perfect, Kimihiro!"

Doumeki's eyes widened. Did that guy just call him Kimihiro?! What right did that little…? "Don't you think it's a bit soon to call him by his first name?" Doumeki asked.

"Huh? Oh! Man, I'm so sorry! I didn't even realize. You'll have to forgive me. See my dark skin? I'm half Hawaiian and I was raised there too. In America, we do the first name thing and sometimes I forget even though I'm in Japan now. I'm sorry Watanuki-san," Toa finished, embarrassed.

"No, it's fine! Call me Kimihiro!" Watanuki said laughing.

"Alright!"

After they'd practiced inside, they hit some easy slopes. Watanuki was really clumsy with his extremely long legs at first, but Toa and Doumeki helped him get the hang of it. "You're pretty good, Doumeki-san!" Toa yelled as they were sliding down a hill. "Likewise," Doumeki mumbled. Watanuki wanted to stay out there all day, but the other two convinced him that anymore skiing might just kill him. The sun was beginning to set after all.

"Hey, let's all eat dinner together! None of us ate lunch, so we all must be starving," Watanuki said as they packed up. "Well, actually, you can go eat somewhere else, Doumeki."

"Nope. Don't want you shivering or suffering from any spirits."

"Huh?" Toa asked.

"Nothing, nothing. Just a joke," Watanuki said quickly.

They all eventually got situated at a little sushi bar in the lodge. They had some tropical smoothies with their food. They'd all had to change and Toa looked even more Hawaiian in his bright shirt, long shorts, and his hair up with a clip instead of a hair tie.

"So, how long are you guys staying here?" Toa asked, stirring his smoothie with his straw.

"Just a week. We're actually here because we have a job to do concerning the manager, Mr. Kikuchi," Watanuki said with a mouthful of sushi.

"Really? What kind of work?" he asked.

"Oh, just uh, little repairs. Place needs some fixing up, I guess," Watanuki said nervously.

"Oh. That's cool," Toa said before shoving some sushi into his mouth. It was a good thing Toa was dense. "Well, I'm stuffed. And tired. I'll see you dudes on the horizon." He got up and paid for his part. "Later," he said, throwing them a salute.

"Kay! Bye! I'll definetly see you tomorrow! Bye!" Watanuki said waving violently.

"Let's go. I've already paged the shuttle," Doumeki said, paying for the rest.

"Hey, I can pay for myself!"

"Shut up and let's just go."

"Sheesh. Fine, grouchy-pants."

When they exited the building and went out into the dark, Watanuki got a sinking feeling. His head stared spinning and it sounding like wind was whistling in his ears. Something was definetly wrong here.

"Are you alright?" Doumeki asked, putting his hand on Watanuki's shoulder to steady him.

The whistling and spinning had stopped. What had that been that he was hearing? "Yeah. I'm fine. The shuttle's here."

Yamada's smile shined even in the dark and they were quickly taken back home.

Watanuki threw his pajamas on and fell asleep instantly. He'd worked the hardest of them all and was now totally worn out. Doumeki followed quickly after him so he could make sure he stayed close. He didn't want Watanuki having nightmares again. Thankfully, he didn't have nightmares, but he saw the three black figures once again, running toward the trees.

They were awoken the next morning by a knock. Doumeki was out cold so Watanuki ventured out of the warm bed and answered it. There stood another Yamada.

"Kenji?" Watanuki asked.

"No sir. I'm a different Yamada. I'm here to deliver a message."

Watanuki lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes. I'm sorry it's so early, but Kikuchi-sama has requested that I come and fetch you. He's ready to speak with you."


	3. The Man Who Carries Luck in His Pocket

**Poison:** Whew. The story has finally been set in motion. The hardest part of any story is setting it up. This chapter is longer than the first two. There was just so much I needed to pack into here. I apologize if it's too long. If you think so, review and tell me what you think! I need your reviews to help me make this story the best it can be! If something's bothering you, please don't hesitate to tell me. I can take any kind of criticism extremely well and I won't dislike you for it. In fact, I will love you for telling me what you think, whether you love it or not. Oh yes, this question has popped up in some of the reviews, so I will answer it right here. I POST A NEW CHAPTER EVERY WEDNESDAY UNLESS ACTED UPON BY SOME OUTSIDE FORCE THAT KEEPS ME FROM DOING SO. THANK YOU. I will try to warn you in advance if something comes up and I have to post a chapter at a later time. Honestly, I felt this chapter came out a bit jumbled and I'm sorry. I hope you can still enjoy it. I would like to take a moment to thank IceBreakers Sours Gum for helping me focus when I get distracted and for keeping my cough down. Thankfully, my cough and sickness is almost completely gone. Please enjoy! Review! Oh, and fangirls, don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the onsen. They may be in the next chapter and will definetly be in one of the next couple chapters.

It was faintly chilly in the hallway that Watanuki and Doumeki were brought to, but Watanuki was sweating bullets. He wasn't nervous or anything, but he felt slightly ill as he was led by a Yamada down the hall. His mouth grew sticky and he found he couldn't swallow anymore. It almost felt like he was approaching something so foul and polluted that it was contaminating his entire body. It was so disgusting… Watanuki found himself fighting down stomach bile.

"Here we are," the Yamada said as they reached the last door down the hall. Watanuki gently held his stomach. The door looked the same as every other door in the hallway—gray and stoic. Watanuki fought against his nausea and wrapped against the door.

"Please enter," a voice from within boomed. Slightly uneasy, he walked in and glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Doumeki was right behind him. He didn't want to be alone.

For the owner of a huge and prosperous resort, he had quite a boring office. There was a desk in the back center, a window on the right wall, a bookshelf on the left wall, and two chairs seated in front of the desk. Watanuki turned his attention to the man at the desk. Doumeki immediately went into a deep bow and Watanuki did the same.

"Hello, Kikuchi-sama. My name is Kimihiro Watanuki and this is Shizuka Doumeki. We were sent by Yuko Ichihara for something that you requested of her. I hope that you will treat us well," Watanuki finished, staying in a bow.

"Yes, yes. Please take a seat, both of you," he grumbled, gesturing to the two chairs in front of the desk. They quietly sat down and watched Kikuchi attentively. He was an old man, probably about in his 60s or 70s. His gray hair was slicked back and the wrinkles in his face were deep, especially where his frown was.

"I'm surprised she sent a couple of schoolboys over to do such an important job. But, she told me you guys were the best in the business, so you better not mess this up. I'd like us to keep our voices down due to the nature of this job I have for you both." He scrutinized both of them as he spoke. Doumeki was passive, but Watanuki had to struggle because of his nausea. They both nodded.

Kikuchi placed his chin in his hands. "Alright then. So, I'm not sure if you've heard the rumors, but there are some going around that this place is haunted and that people have been going missing. Thankfully, right now they only stand as rumors. The truth is, some people have gone missing, but they were all employees. That way we were at least able to keep that part quiet. However, the rumor about the ghosts has driven some of my customers away and I need to get rid of them."

"And you believe that there are actually ghosts and this isn't a human's doing?" Doumeki interjected. "You didn't exactly strike me as the superstitious type."

Watanuki wondered, what was Doumeki getting at? Kikuchi's hand flew to his throat and he began fiddling with something around his neck. He saw that it was a small copper coin with the kanji for luck on it. A matching pin was also on his lapel.

"As a man of business, I can't afford to ignore things like this," his said. He still had a commanding voice, but it had begun to shake.

"Don't worry, sir. We are here to get the job done and we will, but we need some information from you first. What kind of signs do the spirits give and where does it happen most frequently?" Watanuki asked.

"The spirits don't exactly show themselves to people. They only appear during certain times. Before my employees went missing, it was said that they were in a daze and weren't quite themselves before they went missing. That's all I know," Kikuchi said gruffly, now messing with a four-leaf clover charm on a bracelet he was wearing.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that only some of your employees have gone missing and not any guests?" Doumeki asked.

"Why should I find it strange? My employees live here. Therefore, they're here the most and are more exposed to the spirits. Makes sense to me," Kikuchi replied, giving Doumeki a threatening look. Watanuki's hand flew to his mouth. For some reason, after Kikuchi had just spoken, he'd felt like he was going to throw up. He took a minute to regain his composure and get rid of the dizziness.

"You all right, boy?" Kikuchi asked, softening a little.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just feel a little woozy."

"Ah. That's the altitude doing it. It'll go away in a while. Have some water." Kikuchi pointed out a water dispenser to the left. Watanuki gratefully got up and got himself a Styrofoam cup-full. Doumeki continued watching the old man.

"That's an interesting bowl of salt you have on your desk. With all those luck charms you have, you'd think that maybe the spirits were after you, Mr. Kikuchi," Doumeki said with a voice like ice.

"Oh my! I thought that woman was sending me exorcists, not detectives!" Kikuchi shrugged it off with false laughter. "If you are suspicious of my morals because I'm a business man, don't worry. That woman said I would need to pay a price and I'm prepared to pay you both handsomely." Watanuki finished gulping down his water and threw the cup away. The old man stood up and approached him. "Feel better soon, boy. I want you at your best for this job," he said with a smile, placing a hand on Watanuki's shoulder. His shoulder burned at the man's touch, but he ignored it and nodded with a smile.

"We'll get those spirits out in no time," he promised.

"You may leave now," Kikuchi said, taking his seat once again at his desk and giving Doumeki one last nasty look as they left the room.

The minute the door closed behind them, Watanuki fell to his knees coughing. He'd been holding it in during their entire meeting. Doumeki got on his knees beside him and began patting his back.

"Hey, you alright? Oi, come on. What's wrong?" Doumeki tried asking while he held Watanuki's shoulders, keeping him steady.

"That man," Watanuki said weakly. "There's so much… poison surrounding him. He's got so many lucky charms that it all stays off of his body and floats around in the air around him. I could hardly stand it," he finished, wiping some sweat off of his brow.

"Well, we're done now. Let's hurry up and get out of here," Doumeki said softly, hoisting Watanuki to his feet and holding on tightly to his arm.

"I can walk by myself," Watanuki said, trying to sound angry but too weak to do so.

Doumeki ignored him and began leading him out. "That guy's aura must be really powerful if not even my presence helps ease your pain."

Watanuki looked up at him. His last statement had sounded very out of character. Not what he said, but how he said it. He had sounded very apologetic and his face wasn't in its usual apathetic state. There were lines of concern around his eyebrows and his frown was a little deeper. Was Doumeki actually concerned about him? Maybe he'd been too hard on the guy.

"Hey, I feel alright now. I can walk now," he said, gently pulling his arm away. "I'm hungry. What do you say we go get something to eat?"

Doumeki looked at him, slightly surprised. "Yeah, sure. I'm in the mood for a steaming plate of okonomiyaki."

"I was actually thinking of that little Italian restaurant I saw in the main building. It looked really good."

"Okonomiyaki is better for you."

"Well, I feel like eating Italian."

"But the okonomiyaki here is made by some of the top chefs in the area."

"Agh! I try to be nice to you and you contradict everything I say! I don't even know why I bother!"

"Hey, what's the problem?"

They both turned to see Toa. Today, he had his long black hair down and it hung halfway down his back.

"Oh, hey Toa. I was just trying to tell this idiot that we should eat Italian instead of okonomiyaki. We can get okonomiyaki back home," Watanuki said, his bad mood lifting a little.

Toa rubbed his chin. "I'm going to have to agree with Doumeki, man. The okonomiyaki here is some of the best. And the Italian here is more of a dinner thing. Why don't we go grab some okonomiyaki and then some Italian for dinner? That way, everybody's happy."

"Alright, if you think that's what's best, Toa," Watanuki said, reluctantly giving in. He half expected Doumeki to protest since it was obvious he didn't like Toa for some reason, but he remained silent as they walked toward the eating area.

The plates of the pancake-like food steamed in front of their faces and they all eagerly dug in. "Itadakimasu!" They took a couple of moments to enjoy the heaven before Doumeki spoke.

"Toa, you're a full-time employee, aren't you?"

Toa looked at him questioningly with a mouth full of food. "Yeah. Why?"

"So, you live here at the lodge then?"

"Yeah. All the employees live in this huge building that's separated between the men and women."

"What about school?" Watanuki interrupted. Toa laughed.

"I'm 20! I already finished high school. I didn't think college was necessary since this was what I wanted to do."

"20? Wow. I could've sworn you were my age," Watanuki said before shoveling more okonomiyaki into his mouth. Doumeki continued.

"Living in that building must mean you know a lot about the employees here, right?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah. We're pretty close. We tell each other things. Something you wanna know?"

"Can you tell us about the employees that went missing?"

There was a clank as both Watanuki and Toa dropped their chopsticks. "Doumeki!" Watanuki hissed.

"Nah, it's cool. Sure. What do you want to know about them?" Toa said, calming Watanuki down.

"Do you know how they disappeared? Tell me every detail you can remember."

Toa scratched his head and leaned back in his chair. He tilted his head to the side, thinking. "It always happened at night, but I guess stuff like that usually does. The ones who went missing always acted weird the day before they went missing. None of us really noticed it until after they'd gone missing, though. No one knows what really happened to them. What Kikuchi always officially released to the authorities was that their bodies were found and it had been suicide. But that's a bunch of crap. No one was ever found and whether or not any of them are still alive is a complete mystery. That Kikuchi is _lolo_. He has more lucky charms than that cereal. He tries to carry good luck around in his pocket," Toa finished, twirling a finger next to his head.

"_Lolo_?" Watanuki asked.

"It's Hawaiian for crazy," Toa explained.

"Why would he try to hide something like that?" Watanuki wondered aloud. "You think he'd want the police's help so that they could help figure out if these people actually died or not."

"I don't think this is a case the police could handle," Doumeki said, giving Watanuki an intense look. Watanuki nodded. Doumeki then turned his attention back to Toa.

"I find it odd that you grew up in Hawaii yet you followed your dream to teach snowboarding. Wouldn't surfing be what you wanted to do?"

"Well, I came to Japan every winter when I was a kid to visit some family and go snowboarding and skiing. I told you yesterday that I'm a _hapa,_ a half-Japanese and half-Hawaiian. I loved the snow since there was never a single snowflake in Hawaii. I was lucky enough that my Japanese half, my father's half, of the family was old acquaintances with the Kikuchi's. Something about the Kikuchi's being obligated to us. So, I got this job." Toa took a slurp from his tropical smoothie.

"An obligation?"

"Yeah. I don't know anything about it though. Why all of these strange questions? What kind of job did you guys say you were here for?"

"We're here to clean up some filth," Watanuki said, suddenly becoming serious.

Toa frowned. "I want you guys to be careful. Kikuchi's a shady character. He has complete loyalty from his entire staff except me it seems. I don't know what he's getting you both into, but I don't like how it sounds." He turned his deep dark eyes on Watanuki. "Please promise to take care of yourselves. Especially you, Kimihiro."

Watanuki nodded wordlessly. Toa broke out of his serious expression and gave one of his lop-sided grins. "Alright. My break's over. I'll catch you dudes later." He got up and gave them a Hawaiian _shaka_ sign, in which he made a fist with his pinky and thumb skyward.

"Tell us if you find anything else out!" Watanuki called after him. Toa waved in recognition.

"I don't completely trust that guy," Doumeki said quietly.

"Why not? He's really nice. Besides, we're dealing with spirits, not people. There shouldn't be any reason to distrust anyone who's living." He patted his stomach. "Now that we've eaten, I think we should get to work. We only have a week to do this thing, and I'd like to hurry up and finish so that we can have some free time."

"Okay. Where do we start, Inspector Watanuki?"

"Tch. Don't get smart with me. We're going to explore all the buildings and see if I detect something. If there are spirits in this place, I'll feel them. You're job is to stay close and be quiet."

"Can do, inspector."

***

Watanuki furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. Nothing.

"Man! What is up with this place? There's this whole big mystery going on and I can't even find a spirit anywhere! We've been to every inch of every building and haven't found anything. I thought for sure there would be something in the employee building because of the disappearances, but that place was a dead zone too. No pun intended," he ranted, rubbing his forehead.

"I guess this means it's time for dinner," Doumeki said.

"Is food all you ever think about?! I mean, we should stop for now, but we're at a dead end right now. I can't think of anything else to do and it's getting us nowhere. Just thinking about what Yuko would do to me if I failed this job…" He shivered. That witch could be scary.

"Maybe they don't live here. Maybe you'll just have to wait until they come to the resort again. I'm sure at some point this week they'll come wondering around. Let's go get that Italian we agreed on."

Watanuki nodded, thinking of the delicious pasta waiting for him. It was just as wonderful as he'd imagined. Everything from the pasta to the warm buttered bread was perfect. He loved this resort and its food. Once he'd eaten enough to never want to see a tomato again, he fumbled for the pager in his pocket and pressed it. He hardly even remembered making the walk to the shuttle stop because the food had made him so sleepy.

"Have another eventful day?" Kenji asked as cheerfully as ever.

"Not really. We worked all day. The only break we had was when we ate that delicious okonomiyaki with Toa," Watanuki said, remembering just how delicious it had been.

"Toa? Toa Waka?" Kenji asked quickly.

"Um, I don't know his last name. But I'm sure it's the same person. Brown skin, long black hair, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. You're friends with him? Lucky you! He's an awesome guy."

"Are you friends with him?"

"A little bit. He really is wonderful, though." At that, Kenji went silent.

They arrived at their sad little shack and gave their goodbyes to Kenji before going inside. "God, it's cold," Watanuki huffed, rubbing his arms.

Doumeki took that as a cue to start shoveling coal into their little heat oven. Watanuki busied himself with lighting more candles. He then took a seat at the table and watched Doumeki continue to shovel.

"You know something? This place sucks. It's always cold, the wind always drifts in, it creaks like crazy at night, and water drips from a leak on me sometimes when I sleep. But you know what else? I kind of like it. It's really peaceful. Nice and private. No noisy neighbors, you know? Oh god, this trip is getting to me. I'm actually talking to you about my thought now. Now that you mention it, I wonder how Himawari's doing. It's so odd that I haven't even thought of her once since we left." Watanuki didn't feel the same fluttery feeling he usually felt when he thought of her. He'd only been away for a couple of days and already she was becoming something distant to him. That couldn't be a good sign. His thoughts were interrupted.

"I like it out here too," Doumeki agreed. He put down his shovel and started walking toward Watanuki. He grabbed the other chair at the table and brought it close to Watanuki. He had the chair so that he and Watanuki were facing each other rather than next to each other. Doumeki grabbed Watanuki's long slender hands in his own large ones. His face got close enough for Watanuki to count his eyelashes.

"I really like being out here with you," Doumeki said softly, his breath brushing Watanuki's cheeks.

Watanuki jumped up with a start. His chair fell over behind him and he backed up quickly. "Wh-what the heck?! You've been acting weird!" He suddenly felt the same feeling he'd felt when he'd first entered the lodge. It felt like his entire body was drenched in water and he began shaking uncontrollably.

"What's wrong? Is it still too cold in here?" Doumeki asked, standing up and approaching Watanuki.

"No! It's fine. It just means that spirits are near," Watanuki said with a weak shaky voice, backing away further.

"Let me help—"

"No! Just stay where you are. I'm going to go see if there are any spirits out there!"

Before Doumeki could say anything, Watanuki had grabbed a candle and ran out of the cottage. He really had believed that he felt spirits near, but he'd mostly used that excuse to get away. Doumeki had been acting out of character ever since they'd left and it was scaring him a little. Especially since they were stuck in that shack together until Sunday. He couldn't just stand around. Doumeki would come after him and then what? Watanuki turned to where he felt the spiritual energy and found himself running toward the forest beside the resort. He disappeared into the thick growth of trees and discovered that it went into a sharp decline. He moved as quickly as he could down the hill without falling. Eventually, the land leveled out and he moved faster. He could feel the spiritual energy getting stronger and stronger with every step he took. I'm getting close, he thought.

Suddenly, there was a sound. A loud sound. Watanuki stopped and looked around. He heard another rustle and he spun around, looking left and right. Was there something there? Spirits maybe?

"Hello?" he called. His call was answered by more rustling and some crunching in the snow. His heart was pounding, but he stood his ground. He was greeted a couple moments later by a deer.

"Ah. It's just a deer. Hey there! Aw, you're just a cute little guy! I can't believe how scared I was," Watanuki said half to himself half to the deer. "Come here, Mr. Deer…"

The deer pricked his ears and ran off at full speed. "Oh no. I must've scared him away," Watanuki said quietly. However, a deep rumbling told him that he was wrong.

"Hello?" he called once again. Why had he left the shack so readily? It was dark and he was sure he had no idea where he was. Even if Doumeki was acting creepy, it was better than this.

A huge figure emerged from the trees and stood silently. Watanuki held his candle up to see what it was and nearly fainted. It was a bear. A really, really big bear. And it was standing not five feet away from him. Oh lord, what am I going to do, he thought in horror.

He didn't have time to decide what to do. The bear leapt at him and he screamed and tumbled out of the way. He watched the candle sail out of his hand and hit the snow where it was extinguished. Now he was in complete darkness. He could only hear the bear now.

The bear let out a small roar and Watanuki heard its large paws crunch through to snow towards him again. He ran off to the side and managed to dodge it again. He then made the wrong move and decided to stay still to listen for the bear. Before he heard anything, he felt the bear's claws ram into his side and send him flying. He rolled through the snow and grimaced. He could feel warm sticky blood ooze out onto his cold body. I'm going to die, he thought.

He looked up at the sound of something whizzing by and hitting the tree beside him. He saw that it was an arrow. "Doumeki?"

The next arrow that came was one made of Doumeki's spirit energy and it stuck right into the bear's shoulder. The animal cried out in pain and ambled off as quickly as it could. It disappeared into the trees and soon Watanuki couldn't hear it anymore.

"Watanuki?" came Doumeki's voice, scruffy and filled with worry.

"I'm here," Watanuki croaked, waving an arm in the air.

A small candle light bobbed over towards him and soon Watanuki was looking at Doumeki's illuminated face.

"Are you alright? That was no ordinary bear," Doumeki said.

"Yeah, I know. It was some sort of spirit. I could tell," Watanuki said, holding his side where the bear had scratched him.

"Did he hurt you at all?"

"Just in my side. It's nothing serious," he replied, trying to keep the pain out of his voice.

"Let me see." Doumeki moved to where he saw Watanuki holding his side and brought the candle close to the wound. "He got you pretty good. Thankfully it's not too deep. It'll stop bleeding soon. We need to wrap it up quickly, though, before it gets infected."

Watanuki sighed and tried to push himself up. The slices in his skin screamed at him and he let out a small yelp.

"Don't try to get up and walk. It'll only make it bleed longer and open up more. Hold this," he said, handing Watanuki the candle and his bow.

"Why do I have to hold—?"

Before he could finish, Doumeki had hoisted him up and was holding him bridal-style.

"Hey! Put me down!"

"Shut up." Doumeki's voice was stern now. "There's no way you'll be able to walk back."

Watanuki did as he was told and shut his mouth. Doumeki made his way through the path and back up the large hill. He wasn't even breathing hard. Was he really that light? Watanuki could only wonder. The candle lit up Doumeki's face and boy did he look pissed. Watanuki closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at it. He squeezed the bow to help ease some of the pain.

When they reached the shack, Watanuki was relieved to feel the warmth from the oven. Doumeki placed him down on the floor and pulled out a first aid kit from his bag. He took the candle and bow from Watanuki and put them aside. Sitting cross-legged, he began applying hydrogen peroxide to Watanuki's wound.

"It stings," Watanuki whined.

"Shut up," Doumeki commanded. Watanuki clamped his mouth shut.

The two fumbled to pull Watanuki's shirt off and Doumeki swore as the wound began bleeding again as they did. He quickly wrapped bandages around Watanuki's waist and taped them off. Watanuki pulled his bloody shirt back on. It wasn't warm enough for him to be shirtless.

"Thanks," he mumbled. He felt himself getting a little less selfish towards Doumeki.

"Why the hell did you do that?"

Watanuki looked up at Doumeki and realized that his glasses had cracked and the frame had been bent extremely crooked.

"Well crap," he muttered, feeling his destroyed glasses. Doumeki ripped them off of his face and threw them aside.

"Answer me."

This was the loudest Watanuki had ever heard Doumeki speak. "I felt something out there, alright? That's all. That _is _why we're here, you know."

"I'm supposed to go with you! You can't just run off and solve this by yourself. What would have happened if I hadn't followed you just now? You'd have more than just this little cut. You could've even—" He cut himself off and bit his lip.

"I'm sorry, okay? I won't do it again. Sheesh."

"Promise me."

"What are you, a kid? Fine, I promise. Cross my heart and all that crap. I'm hurt and my glasses are ruined, but at least now we have a lead. They're somewhere down in that forest. I'm sure of it."

"We'll start looking tomorrow. Right now we need to sleep."

"Tch. All you do is eat and sleep."

Doumeki ignored him. He got up and retrieved his glasses from where he had flung them. "I guess we'll need to get you new glasses first. I'm sure the resort has some. It has everything." He looked over at Watanuki. "You look good without glasses, though. You have a nice face. Have you ever considered contacts?"

"Hell no! I would never be able to put up with those things. Now quit saying weird stuff and blow out all the candles." He slowly crawled into bed with his thick tight bandages. All the light left the shack and Watanuki felt Doumeki climb in next to him.

"Good night, creep."

***

Doumeki was awaken the next morning by a pleasant and warm smell that wafted into his nostrils. He rolled over and stretched to find that Watanuki wasn't in the futon. He sat up and grunted. What was that smell?

"Morning."

Over at the cooking stove, Watanuki was busily shoveling eggs and bacon across a steaming pan. He'd changed out of his bloody clothes from last night and was wearing a dark blue long-sleeved shirt with a short-sleeved light blue one over it. Jeans hugged loosely at his hips and trailed down to the house slippers on his feet. To top it all off, he was wearing an apron that'd been hanging beside the stove that was white with a large red heart in the center.

"Morning," Doumeki replied. After straightening up the futon, he walked over to the table and sat patiently, waiting for his food. "How's your wound?"

"It's fine. I put on new bandages this morning. It might scar, but it's healing fast enough," replied Watanuki as he began placing the hot food on some plates. He whipped out some thick bread rolls and slathered butter on them before sprinkling garlic powder on them. He carefully poured some orange juice into two glasses, but ended up spilling a little.

"Dammit," he swore, rubbing his eyes. He really needed some glasses. He quickly wiped it up and placed the food on the table. "Um, this is my way of saying thanks for last night. You said you liked western style breakfast, so I pillaged through the food they provided in here. Don't think I'm going to do this all the time. This is the only time I plan on cooking during this trip."

Doumeki was hardly listening. He was too busy getting the food from his plate to his mouth.

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you! I did something nice for you, ya big jerk! I had to squeeze that juice out by hand because there was only water and fruit! Hey!"

Doumeki looked up finally at Watanuki. "Oh. I forgot that you don't have your glasses."

"Yeah. They're kind of destroyed right now. That better not be a smile on your face," Watanuki said, squinting at Doumeki. God was he blind.

Doumeki handed Watanuki his dishes when he was done and Watanuki took them angrily. He gathered all the dishes and got up. "You could at least say thank you! Were you raised with no manners? I can't believe guys like you." He piled the dishes up next to the stove. There was no sink, so he was going to have to find another way to clean the dishes.

"Thank you."

Watanuki turned. "Did you just say what I think you did? You've never said thank you for anything I've done. Are you messing with me?!"

"Well, this is the first time you've thanked me for saving your life, which I've done many times."

"I decided that I wanted to be the better man, okay? You're still just an ungrateful—"

Doumeki walked over to Watanuki and grabbed his chin. His coffee colored eyes stared holes into his own blue eyes. "What kind of glasses do you need? We'd better go get new ones now if you can't even see my face across the table."

"Just because I can't see you very well doesn't make it any more okay for you to be this close to my face," Watanuki snapped, pulling Doumeki's hand off of his chin.

Out of nowhere, a bright light seeped through the cracks in their shack and a large whooshing sound could be heard.

"What the—?"

Watanuki ran outside and Doumeki followed close behind him. He looked around but couldn't see anything.

"Up there," Doumeki said, pointing toward the sky.

Watanuki strained his eyes all he could, but all he could make out were five falling shapes, four large and one small and white. Doumeki grabbed Watanuki's arm and pulled him out of the way just in time for the figures to hit the ground.

"Oh look! Snow!"

"Ouch! Get the hell off of me, wizard!"

"Are you alright princess?"

"I'm fine."

"Yay! Lots of fluffy snow!"

One of the figures turned toward Watanuki. "You! You work for the time space witch. Only, you're not wearing glasses. Does this mean we're in the world of Japan?" The figure drew close enough for Watanuki to make out his face.

He was staring into the face of Syaoran of Clow.


	4. Enter Dimensional Travelers!

**Poison:** PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER. It has come to my attention that not all of you are reading my author's note before reading the chapter. It's crucial, so please read these! Many of the questions I get in my reviews are answered here. For example, I'm still posting every Wednesday. Second of all, yes, this is also a KuroFai story. Third of all, if you don't know who Syaoran, Sakura, Fai, Kurogane, and Mokona are, please read or watch at least a little bit of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle so that you'll understand. What else? Oh yes. I apologize if this chapter's crappy. I posted chapter 3 on Wednesday and an hour later had to hop on a bus to San Diego for the yearly trip my high school band takes. I didn't get back until late on Sunday, so I only had two days to write and edit this. *sweat drop* Enjoy it as much as you can. It's a little jumbled and rushed, but it was the best I could do in two days. By the way, kampai means 'cheers!' for those of you who didn't know. Starting next chapter, the plot is going to get more serious. Oh, and when I typed Syaoran saying "Down by the—" and cutting himself off in this chapter, I started singing 'down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go…' Does anyone remember that song from grade school? I thought I might just tell you all about that.

"You're… Syaoran-kun?" Watanuki asked, squinting at the young boy's face.

"Yes. And you're the boy that works for the time space witch. Tell me, are we in Japan?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah, this is Japan. I'm surprised you ended up here. The white Mokona got you here?"

"Yup yup yup! It was Mokona!" Mokona cheered, jumping up and down in front of Watanuki's face.

Kurogane grunted. "I guess this means we're not in _my_ Japan."

"Are you still so eager to leave us, Kuro-poo?" Fai said, pouting. Kurogane's face flushed. "S-stop that!"

Syaoran interrupted their argument. "Does that shack over there belong to you two? I'd like to get Princess Sakura inside."

"Oh. Of course, of course," Watanuki said, ushering them all towards the shack.

It took them all a while to settle inside because of the space issue, but soon everyone was seated comfortably around the heat oven. Watanuki was busily preparing the guests snacks and hot cocoa. The travelers were thankful to have immediate shelter coming into a new world.

"Guess we got lucky, huh?" Fai said with his usual smile.

"No kidding," Syaoran agreed. "I've heard that this world is extremely peaceful and that violence and monsters don't hang out here."

"Well that's boring," Kurogane grumbled.

Doumeki sat quietly and watched the strangers. He was used to strange things happening ever since he'd begun hanging around Watanuki. Still, these dimension travelers fascinated him. While looking amongst them, he made eye contact with the young girl. Her bright green eyes hooked onto his and she smiled softly at him. Just by looking at her he could tell there was something missing from her. Hadn't he heard something about a girl searching for her memories? Was this that girl? Most likely, he guessed.

"I imagine you all must be exhausted and hungry from your troubles. It's not much, but it's the best I can do with what I have in here. Later I'll take you to get some real food in the main building," Watanuki said cheerfully, walking slowly towards them because of his impaired vision. He placed down a platter that had seven mugs of hot cocoa and fresh baked cookies.

"I don't know how good the cookies are. I only have a stove and no oven," Watanuki added nervously.

Syaoran took a bite. "They're delicious. It's perfectly fine." He finished the one he was eating and picked up another.

Watanuki sat down with the rest. "Alright. Now that we're all settled, let's talk. You're looking for this girl's memories, right? Or her feathers I should say. That's what Yuko told me anyway. Is there one in this world?"

The group of travelers all looked to Mokona for an answer. "Well," Mokona began. Mokona tugged on its ears in frustration. "I feel something, but it's a weird feeling! I think it could be a feather, but I'm not sure!"

Syaoran quickly swallowed a bite of cookie. "Then we have to stay. If there's even a chance that there's a feather nearby, we can't leave." Doumeki was impressed by the intensity in the boy's eyes. Watanuki was too blind to see.

"Well, that could be a problem," Watanuki said meekly.

"A problem?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes. You see, this shack is tiny. It barely fits me and this ape sitting beside me. There's no way all of you could stay in here. Especially you," he said, pointing to Kurogane.

"Oh! Kuro-tan's a big guy!" Fai said playfully!

"Too big! Too big!" Mokona chimed in.

"Quiet before I cook you in teriyaki sauce, furball!" Kurogane said while tightly grasping Mokona.

Fai turned away from them and towards Watanuki. "My, that does sound like a problem. Whatever shall we do then? We have no currency from this world." Even faced with crisis, he keeps the same smile, Watanuki thought eerily.

Watanuki racked his brain for ideas. There was no way they could camp out because of all the snow. This was a well kept property, so there were no abandoned shacks or shed lying around either. But if they had no money, there's no way they'd get even an inch of the resort to stay in. Watanuki took his ruined glasses out of his pocket and looked upon them sadly. Not only was he faced with this problem, but he was blind as a bat. There wasn't anywhere to stay within miles of this place. You'd have to be a celebrity or something to get a free ride.

Just as Watanuki thought that, he held up his glasses to his eyes and looked at Fai clearly for the first time. He gasped.

"Oh my god! You look just like that guy!" Watanuki exclaimed.

"Hmm? Me? What guy?" Fai asked.

Watanuki grinned. "I think I have an idea."

***

"Are you sure about this?" Syaoran asked as the group entered the main building behind Watanuki and Doumeki.

"Of course," Watanuki said, gratefully pushing up the new glasses he'd gotten from the lodge physician. "We got him and the rest of you all the right clothes. Besides, Yuko told me something about there being parallel beings of other people in each world, right? Well Fai definetly has a counterpart in this world."

Syaoran nodded, remembering the many times he'd seen the same faces in different worlds. When he saw all the people in the lodge, he grabbed Sakura's hand and protectively kept her close. Sakura looked down at their hands and smiled with a flush creeping across her face. Syaoran looked at her and smiled back. She looked very cute in the outfit Watanuki had bought for her. She was wearing a blue sweater with a glittery snowflake and a matching bouncy miniskirt with thick white tights on her legs. Petit blue boots finished off the outfit. Fai's outfit on the other hand…

Fai was clad in a silky purple top with a suave white jacket and orange pants that flared out at the bottom. A gaudy blue scarf was thrown around his shoulders and large sunglasses covered much of his face. His black shoes looked extremely uncomfortable and shined up at him. He held Mokona casually in one arm. Kurogane stood beside him wearing black slacks, a white button-up shirt with the first two buttons unbuttoned and an open black blazer. Syaoran looked at his boring outfit that consisted of a dark green turtle neck and jeans gratefully.

"Why are we dressed like this again?" Kurogane growled.

"Because, it's going to get you a free room," Watanuki explained. "Fai's the counterpart of a French celebrity in this world. I've seen him all over magazines and this place will gratefully accommodate a foreign celebrity. Just so you know, the celebrity's name is unknown to the public but he goes by Le Chat Blanc."

"Le Chat Blanc?" Sakura asked, finally speaking.

"Yeah. It means The White Cat," Watanuki told her.

Her face lit up. "That's adorable! It reminds me of when we were in that one world where Fai was Big Kitty and I was Little Kitty." Her laugh tinkled like a small bell.

Watanuki took a moment to admire her cuteness. "Ok guys. You know what to do. Go! Good luck!" he said to the group as he pushed them toward the front desk and then went to stand beside Doumeki.

Fai held his chin high and strutted over to Hiroko. She looked up at him and smiled. "Welcome to Kikuchi Lodge. How may I help you? Are you all checking in?"

"Mm, I suppose," Fai said dramatically.

"Do you have a reservation?"

"No. I don't think that will be a problem though." He pulled off his sunglasses and placed them on his head. He grabbed Hiroko's hand and gently kissed it. "Enchanté, mademoiselle. I am Le Chat Blanc. I hope that a beautiful young lady like yourself will understand that I am weary from my travels around the world and want only a warm bed to sleep in. As well as for my companions." He gestured toward the others.

Hiroko turned bright magenta. "Chat-sama! Of course! I'll find you a room right now! The nicest one we have open!" She busily clicked through her computer. "Room for four, right? Or, is that a pet? We don't allow pets, Chat-sama."

"No worries, ma cherie. This is nothing but a favorite stuffed animal of mine. It goes everywhere with me. But don't tell the press," Fai said, winking and bringing a finger to his lips. Hiroko went from magenta to deep crimson.

Hiroko's fussing had started drawing a crowd. People began whispering, 'is that really him?' He soon had a fan base of young girls surrounding him shrieking.

"It's really him! Oh my god! Can I have your autograph?" they all screamed at him.

"Please, at another time ladies," Fai said, trying to remain calm. Sakura grew frightened and clung to Fai's clothes.

"That girl is so cute! Is she your lover?" one girl asked.

Syaoran opened his mouth to yell 'no!' but Fai spoke first. "Oh, no no no. This young boy and girl here are my very dear cousins who I took along with me," he explained, putting a hand on both of their shoulders. "This," he said, wrapping his arms around on of Kurogane's "is my lover."

"WHAT?!" Kurogane boomed at the wizard. A shriek rose from the throats of the fangirls that shook the earth.

"Chat-sama? I've secured a room for you. I must say, your Japanese is impeccable. And I never would have imagined that you'd have a Japanese lover," Hiroko said, struggling to be heard. She quickly handed him a card key. "Your room number is on the key. Please enjoy your stay!" She stepped out from behind her desk and walked into the throttle of girls. "Alright everyone! Please back off of Chat-sama or I'll be forced to call security!" Pouting, the girls departed, but not until after most of them snapped a quick picture with their cell phones.

"Many thanks, my lady," Fai said, once again calm. He gestured to the others to leave. Kurogane, however, was not calm.

"Why the hell am I your lover?!" he asked angrily.

Fai looked up at him childishly. "Because I looooove you," he replied.

"What?!"

"I'm just kidding, Kuro-pii! We got the room, didn't we?" he said, waving the card key in front of his face. Kurogane snorted in reply.

Watanuki ran over to them. "That was awesome! You pulled that off perfectly! Is that your room key? I'll help you guys find your room. You coming, Doumeki?" he asked, looking back at him. Doumeki silently nodded and walked over.

"Good. I don't want to have to go looking for you later."

After they'd located the room, Watanuki eagerly slid the card in the lock and swung the door open. The door opened to a small living room with a pull-out couch, a sleek glass coffee table, and a large flat screen TV against the wall. Connected was a compact but roomy kitchen that looked like it came straight off the cooking channel. The two bathrooms that were there gleamed and there were two bedrooms: one with a king-sized bed and one with two smaller beds.

"Ooo! This is our room, Kuro-kins!" Fai cooed, walking into the room with the king-sized bed.

The blood rushed to Kurogane's face. "That's, I, you, fine! Whatever!" His words came out scrambled.

Sakura and Syaoran sat on the two small beds in the other room. "These are nice," Sakura said. "Yeah," Syaoran replied, nervous about sharing a room alone with the princess.

"Mokona wants the couch!" Mokona bounced happily on the cushions.

"Damn! This place is nice! Mind sharing with me?" Watanuki asked.

"Sorry. Four to a room only," Fai said, wiggling his finger at Watanuki. Watanuki sighed.

"Fine, fine."

Doumeki grinned. That's right, he thought. You're stuck in that shack alone with me still, Kimihiro Watanuki.

After they'd scoped out all the wonders of the suite, they sat around the coffee table in the living room.

"Time to get down to business. Mokona, where did you sense that energy earlier?" Syaoran asked in all seriousness.

"It was real close to that crumby old shack that Watanuki and Doumeki are staying in!"

"In that forest?" Watanuki asked quickly.

"Yeah! By all the trees!"

Watanuki straightened up. "I think our goals may be connected. We were sent here on a job by Yuko and I can feel all the spirit energy in that area. However, it's dangerous for me to go down there because there are other spirits that are attracted to me. I don't want to get attacked again," he said, his hand unconsciously going to his bandages.

"Then we'll go. They won't attack us," Syaoran said. He looked around at his traveling companions then back to Watanuki. "Do you think you could watch over the princess? I'm afraid to take her with us."

"But Syaoran-kun, I want to go too!"

He smiled warmly at her. "I don't know what might be down there. From what Watanuki's told us, it sounds dangerous. There are other things besides spirits that could be down there. Besides, there always seems to be danger wherever there's a feather. Please stay here."

"Ok. But let me know if there's anything I can do to help," she said quietly, taking his hand.

"Of course." He stood up. "Fai, Kurogane, Mokona, let's go. We'll be back later and tell you what we find out." He gave the three staying behind a reassuring look and the others left.

"Great. What are we going to do? We can't just sit around. It makes me feel useless. Don't you dare make a crack about what I just said, Doumeki," Watanuki said, just realizing that his useless comment was the perfect opening for an insult. "I've been thinking that we should go around asking all the employees about the disappearances and gather information. What do you think?"

Doumeki took Watanuki's hand. "Ok. But let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"You sicko! Don't go imitating Sakura!"

"Disappearances?" Sakura asked.

"It's a long story. Why don't you just tag along? It won't be a lot of fun, but it's better than staying in here by yourself."

"Ok."

***

Fai, Kurogane, Syaoran, and Mokona all returned to the little shack on foot.

"This is where we started. Do you feel it again Mokona?" Syaoran asked the white furry creature.

"Yeah, yeah! Right where Watanuki said. In that forest." Mokona pointed to the mass of trees.

"I'm surprised that forest is so undisturbed with this giant resort here. It must have something to do with a feather," Syaoran deducted.

"Or spirits, as Watanuki said," Fai pointed out.

"Well, what are we just standing around for?" Kurogane asked, his hand close to his sword.

"Right," Syaoran said with a nod.

The three entered the forest carefully. They knew from experience not to enter potentially dangerous places hastily. They easily made their way down the steep hill and continued on when it evened out. They passed the place where Watanuki had been attacked the night before, but the snow has covered up all traces of the struggle. They seemed to walk forever. Small animals scurried by every now and then, but other than that it was silent save the crunching of their footsteps.

"It's like it never ends," Syaoran said after a while.

"Don't stop! Don't stop! Mokona feels something getting really close!" Mokona exclaimed at his comment.

Fai sighed. Kurogane huffed at him. "What're you sighing at? I ain't tired so you shouldn't be either. We've only been walking."

"Look! Up ahead!"

Fai and Kurogane turned to see what Syaoran was pointing at. Not too far off, they could see the twinkle of water. Syaoran broke out in a sprint and the others chased after him. As they got closer, something caught Fai's eye.

"Syaoran, stop!"

Syaoran came to a halt immediately. "What is it?"

"That pond. There's something strange about it. It's not frozen over. There's no way water could stay liquid in this weather."

Syaoran observed the gently rippling pond. "You're right. Something's up."

He walked closer to the pond, slowly this time. As he got closer he felt something strange. He stopped where he was and reached out his hand.

"Huh?"

His hand touched something solid. A barrier? He pushed on it, but it was like an invisible wall. Maybe it was the reason that the forest was untouched.

"Mokona feels something past that barrier!" Mokona said, hopping on Syaoran's shoulder.

A feather? If so, he needed to get past this barrier. He began kicking violently at it, but it did absolutely nothing. He tried punching and kicking some more but had no luck.

"Kurogane! Fai! There's a barrier! Can either of you guys get past it?"

Kurogane instantly drew his sword and began slashing at it. When he noticed it wasn't working, he swung harder. "Damn! What is this thing? Fai, you're a wizard. Can't you do something about this wall?"

"Probably not, Kuro-tan. I don't do those kinds of things," he replied happily.

"At least come and take a look, er, I mean feel," Syaoran pleaded.

Fai nodded and walked over. He gently placed his hands flat on the barrier and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he wasn't smiling anymore.

"Oh my. This is not something for people like us to meddle with," he whispered.

"Are you saying it's hopeless? We have to get in there!" Syaoran argued.

"Don't worry. We can go in when it's decided that we are allowed."

"Say it in a way that makes sense," Kurogane said gruffly.

Fai only smiled. "Watanuki will know. That's all I can really say about this. Since there's nothing we can do at the moment, why don't we return to the others and tell them what we've found out?"

***

Watanuki and Doumeki stood on either side of the princess in order to make her feel safe and comfortable. They went in and out of almost every building and Watanuki stopped every employee he saw.

"Excuse me," he would ask, "but can you tell me what you know about the disappearances? I was sent here on a job."

Unfortunately, most of the employees had very little information and soon it became repetitive. They always told him that all they remembered was that they weren't quite acting like themselves. Some refused to talk to him about it at all. The strangest thing about it all was that when he asked what they thought of Toshiro Kikuchi, they all smiled and said "Kikuchi-sama is the best."

"Asking employees is getting us nowhere. Toa said that the employees were all close, so isn't it a little strange that they have hardly any information on their friends before they disappeared? The only new thing we've learned is that the employees that went missing were two women," Watanuki ranted to Doumeki and Sakura as they began to head back to the main building.

"They're afraid to talk. I can feel it. Kikuchi is keeping them quiet somehow," Doumeki responded. Watanuki nodded.

"Another employee," Sakura said, pointing out a Tanaka walking towards them. Watanuki didn't really want to ask, but he couldn't give up hope that at least one of these people had valuable info.

"Excuse me, miss. May I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course. How may I help you?

"I was wondering if it was alright if I asked you about the disappearances of two of the employees that worked here. What do you know about it?"

She frowned, just like all the others. To their dismay, she said "I cannot talk about this subject. I am sorry."

Watanuki sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"But," she started again, "Hiroko at the front desk can tell you about it. The poor dear, she was the closest to the two who went missing."

Watanuki perked up. "Really? Thank you so much."

"Certainly."

"One more thing. How do you feel about Toshiro Kikuchi?"

"Why, he's the best." Her smile had returned. "Please enjoy the rest of your stay."

And with that, she walked off.

At the front desk, the three found Hiroko scrawling something on a form. With no hesitation, Watanuki approached her.

"Hiroko, I have an important question."

Hiroko looked up and set down her pen. "How might I help you this time?"

"Someone told me that you could tell me about the two female employees that went missing."

A dark expression came over Hiroko's face. "That's why you're here, right? To solve the mystery. Alright. I'll tell you what I know. The two that went missing were two of my best friends, Yumi and Aya. Us three were always together and it didn't seem like anything could tear us apart. At least that was my belief. Everything seemed to be fine, but then I found out one day that they both had their eyes on the same man. I was constantly reminding them that our friendship was golden and nothing, not even a man, should ever change that. They tried assuring me that everything would be okay, but they were wrong. They began fighting all the time over the smallest things and it drove me crazy. Eventually, Yumi started going out with the man and Aya was furious. So, she seduced him and tricked him into being unfaithful to Yumi. They were just about ready to kill each other. However, the next day, they acted as if nothing had ever happened. They were kind to each other and didn't say a single mean word. But at the same time, they seemed like robots. That's the night they went missing. Kikuchi-sama told us that their bodies were found and that they'd committed suicide, but I know they didn't. They're still alive out there. I can feel it." Hiroko finished with a pained look on her face.

"I'm so sorry, Hiroko. I really appreciate you telling me, though," Watanuki said softly.

Sakura reached up and grabbed Hiroko's hand. She beamed up at her with her emerald eyes and smiled. "Please don't worry, Hiroko. We'll figure this out and find your friends. There's nothing worse than losing friends."

"You're such a sweet girl. You're Chat-sama's cousin, right? What are you doing with these two?"

"I wanted to help out. I like helping people, so I'm going to help you, Hiroko."

"I'll take your word for it."

The two exchanged warm looks for a moment. "Do you trust Toshiro Kikuchi?" Sakura asked for Watanuki.

Hiroko released Sakura's hand and returned to work with a cynical smile.

"Absolutely not."

After speaking with Hiroko, Watanuki suggested getting hot cocoa. "It's the only free thing here besides air, so we might as well get some." The three grabbed three steaming cups and sat in the room with the giant fireplace on the back wall.

"Ouch! It's hot," Sakura said after taking a sip.

"Are you okay? You might want to wait a moment for it to cool. Blow on it too," Watanuki advised. The princess nodded and did as he said.

"Kimihiro! Doumeki!"

Toa ran up to them with his dark hair whipping behind him. He had a bundle of papers in his arms. He sat beside them and dropped the papers on the small glass table they were sitting by.

"What's all this?" Watanuki asked.

Doumeki picked one up. "Looks like newspapers."

"They are, they are. I thought about what you guys were asking about, so I decided to dig through some old newspapers that the lodge doesn't use anymore but hasn't thrown away. I found a few articles on the disappearances." He held up a couple papers and pointed out the articles to them. Watanuki and Doumeki each took one and examined them.

"It says exactly what Hiroko told us. Reported as suicide," Watanuki observed.

"It also says that the police solved this mystery with the aid of Toshiro Kikuchi. Although I doubt the police actually did much of anything. They were most likely paid off," Doumeki added.

"But why is he trying so hard to cover this up?" Watanuki wondered aloud.

"Either he doesn't want it ruining his business or he has something to do with the spirit problem and he's not telling us." Doumeki's voice slithered through everyone's ears and gave them eerie images. "Toa, did you bring newspapers from after the incident?"

The Hawaiian nodded. "Yeah. They're all in the pile." Doumeki began shuffling through the papers on the table. Toa turned towards Sakura.

"Forgive me! I hardly noticed you there. My name is Toa Waka. And you?" he asked with an extended hand.

Sakura put down her cocoa. "I'm Sakura," she said, placing her small hand in Toa's large dark one.

"Just Sakura?"

"That's all I can remember."

Toa gave her a confused look and Watanuki quickly interrupted. "Did you hear? That famous French celebrity Le Chat Blanc is here. This is actually his cousin, but he asked us to watch her. He and I are, uh, old friends."

"No kidding? That's amazing! Can you introduce me later?" Toa asked, distracted as Watanuki hoped.

"I knew it," Doumeki interrupted.

"Knew what?"

"Those two girls. Their names don't show up in any of the obituaries in any of these later newspapers. Most likely because there wasn't enough proof of their deaths."

"Of course," Sakura butted in. "Hiroko said that she can feel that they're still alive. If that's what she says, I believe her." She took another sip of cocoa. "It's so sweet and warm," she said with wide eyes. She sipped more.

Toa looked at his watch. "I don't have much time before my break's over. I hope I was of some help. Oh, and before I forget, I thought about what you guys were saying about Kikuchi being connected to this in some way. I've decided to research my family history and see just what kind of connection his and my family have. I don't know if it will help at all, but I'm personally curious."

"That's great! Tell me what you find out," Watanuki said, flashing a smile at Toa. Toa felt his heart thud in his chest.

"Sakura! Watanuki! Watanuki's large friend! We're back!" Fai shouted from across the room, waving his arms vigorously.

"Shut up. You're supposed to be a celebrity with a low profile, remember?" Kurogane reminded him with a nudge.

"Oops! My bad. And you're supposed to be my lover!" He wrapped himself around one of Kurogane's arms. "Give me a big kiss!"

"In your dreams!" Kurogane shook the wizard off and turned his head away quickly.

"We found out something important. Down by the—" Syaoran cut himself off as he caught sight of Toa.

Watanuki stood up. "You guys, this is Toa. He's one of my good friends and he's been a big help."

Toa stood up next to him. "Nice to meet ya. You're Le Chat Blanc, right? Wow! I can't believe you're actually friends with Kimihiro! I'd love to stay longer, but I've got people to teach." He gave Watanuki a deep look and affectionately squeezed his wrist. "I guess I'll see you later," he said quietly. Just as he said that, he felt his leg burning.

"Ouch! What the heck?" He looked down to see that hot cocoa had been spilled all over his leg.

"Sorry. Hand slipped," Doumeki said with murderous intent in his eyes. Watanuki gave him a "what's the matter with you?!" look.

"Sorry about this. I actually wanted to know if you'd like to join us later," Watanuki said while handing Toa napkins from the table.

"Oh? Are we doing something later?" Fai asked.

"Yeah. I thought tonight would be perfect for the onsens."

"Onsens? Sure, I'll come. What time?" Toa asked eagerly.

"I think six is good. We'll all eat dinner afterwards."

"Perfect! I'll see you all then!" He was already running late and rushed off to the ski instruction building. Doumeki stared him down until he was out of sight.

"I don't like that guy. I don't think he's safe, Watanuki," he said hotly.

"Oh, grow up. Toa's fine! He's been really nice to you, so what's the problem?"

"Don't worry," Sakura said, looking sadly into her empty cocoa cup. "Toa's a good person. I can tell." The two boys looked at her. They could tell there was more to her than what they could see.

"Yay! Mokona can talk now!" Mokona said happily now that Toa had left.

"Not too loudly. There are still people around," Fai reminded it.

"I know! I'm just happy to talk!"

Watanuki called a Tanaka over and asked for more hot cocoa for all of them. "What were you trying to tell us earlier, Syaoran?" Watanuki asked.

"Oh, right! We went down that forested area. Mokona said that the feeling kept getting closer, so it's definetly down there. We reached a pond, but it was strange. It wasn't frozen at all. The weirdest thing was that there was an invisible barrier around it. Do you think it's the spirits?"

"A barrier?" Watanuki scrunched his face in concentration. "Most likely. They're probably keeping something important in that area."

"Those articles said that Kikuchi reported that the bodies had been found in a pond," Doumeki said.

"Kikuchi's the owner, yes? Is he special in any way? Like, does he have any special abilities?" Fai asked.

"No. But he does have a sickening aura around him. He keeps it off of his body with a bunch of charms. Could he be able to get past the barrier? Maybe. Or he might have just chosen the pond because he knew that no one could get near it." His brain was beginning to hurt.

"Sounds like you need to talk to this guy," Kurogane said.

"I would, but I feel nauseous being anywhere near him," Watanuki explained.

"I'll do it," Syaoran said immediately.

Watanuki shook his head. "Kikuchi wouldn't speak to a stranger. It'd have to be me or Doumeki."

"That man doesn't like me. I could see it in his eyes," Doumeki said.

Watanuki rubbed his forehead. "I wish we could talk to Yuko about this."

"We can! We can! Mokona can communicate with the witch!" Mokona hopped onto Watanuki's lap.

"That's right! Let's go up to your guys' room so that we can call Yuko. She might be able to help."

After they'd all finished their cocoa, they made the trip back up to the suite and placed Mokona on the coffee table.

"Mokona's calling Yuko now!" The white puffball leapt into the air and opened its mouth wide. A screen projected into the air and Yuko could be seen sipping tea inside the shop.

"What a surprise! I haven't heard from you lot in a while. How goes the feather search, Syaoran?" Yuko asked.

"It's fine. We need your help again, though."

"Yes. That's seems to be the main reason you contact me, doesn't it?"

"Well, I need your help too," Watanuki said, stepping in front of Mokona.

"Watanuki? You all are in Japan right now? Interesting. What is it that you need?" Yuko seemed unsurprised and unaffected by all that was going on. Watanuki guessed it was because she'd had a feeling something like this would happen beforehand.

"We've figured out where the spirits are residing at," Watanuki said.

"And possibly a feather," Syaoran added.

"The only problem is that there's a barrier surrounding the area we need to get to."

Yuko's ruby lips curled into a grin. "That barrier is not a problem at all. You don't need my help with that."

"That makes no sense. We couldn't get past the barrier at all," Syaoran interjected.

"If I told you anymore, you'd have to pay me, and I don't think you can afford it right now. Don't worry; Fai knows what I'm talking about, don't you?" she asked with an endearing look at the wizard.

"Of course."

"You're so smart! That's what I love about you. Was there anything else?"

"Yes. That man who asked you for help was Kikuchi, right? Did you notice anything about him when he visited you?" Watanuki asked, unblinking.

"Well, I'm sure that you've noticed something about him, no? There's no need to ask me."

"But I can't get near him! I need to talk to him. All those damn charms make his aura bounce off of him and float around for other people to choke on."

"Do you remember what I gave you when you left?"

Watanuki thought back. The night before him and Doumeki had left, Yuko had given him a lucky rabbit's foot and a rust old door knob. "The rabbit's foot? Do you really think that could work to keep my nausea down?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself? It's only Tuesday after all. You're not leaving until Sunday morning. You have plenty of time. I, however, am busy getting ready to open a beautiful new bottle of sake, so if that's all you needed me for, I'll be going now."

"Ok. Thanks, I guess," Watanuki said in a less-than-happy tone.

"Bye! The pipe fox misses you!" And with that, the screen disappeared from the air and Mokona plopped back down onto the coffee table.

"Well that accomplished almost nothing. That woman is so irritating," Watanuki grumbled, plopping down on the couch beside Doumeki.

"What exactly is it that you know, Fai?" Syaoran asked.

Fai only shook his head. "I can't explain it. The important thing is that I myself understand it. All I can say is to not worry about that barrier, okay?" Syaoran didn't like how vague the wizard's words sounded, but his smile convinced him into trusting him.

"For now I think we should work on drawing out the spirits. I don't know how, though. From what Hiroko told us, the two women that went missing were having love troubles right before it happened. I'm thinking it has something to do with that," Watanuki explained.

"That shouldn't take too long. People have love troubles all the time! Not like me and Kuro-tan," Fai said, making a kissy face at Kurogane.

"We're FAKE lovers, you moron!"

"So you've accepted that you're my pseudo-lover?"

"No! I just… Be quiet!"

"You're so cute, Kuro-tan!"

Amidst all of the arguing, Watanuki felt Doumeki's hand settle on his thigh. He couldn't jolt out of the way because he had Sakura on his other side and he didn't want to hurt her.

"Your hand—"

"Take me with you when you see Kikuchi again," Doumeki interrupted. He leaned his face extremely close to Watanuki's.

"What? Are afraid that he's gonna hurt me or something? We're here on a job for him, remember? I doubt he'd try anything on the guy exterminating his problem," Watanuki hissed back, backing away slightly.

"If he thinks you're trying to find out too much, he might. Just let me go with you."

"You said yourself that he doesn't like you. He might not give as much away with you around. For me, this trip is work and work comes before safety. I'm a big boy. Quit acting like you're my mom or something."

"Reckless," Doumeki muttered under his breath as he pulled his hand away.

Watanuki hoped that Doumeki wasn't mad at him. Not that I care, he thought. It just makes the job harder that way. That's all I care about… right? He couldn't stand it.

"Fine. You can follow me, but don't let him see you," Watanuki said through gritted teeth.

Doumeki turned his head back around. "Alright. That's fine as long as I can see what's happening. I just want to make sure you're okay…" His hand slid back onto Watanuki's thigh. Watanuki felt a surge of heat rush into his face and he stood straight up. How long had it been since they'd left home? Almost four days. Four days and it seemed like his old life was light years away and now he was even warming up to the guy he'd always despised the most. He almost felt like they were good friends or something. He looked over his shoulder at Doumeki and saw a slightly pained look one the other boy's face. Why did he feel so guilty? A sick feeling crawled into Watanuki's gut and he felt terrible. Thankfully, Fai saved him.

"It's about an hour before six. We all need to start washing up! Especially since there's only two bathrooms in this suite. Unless you want to shower with me, Kuro-poo!"

"I'll wait thanks!"

"You have to bathe before entering the onsens?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah. The water has to stay clean for everyone else, so you need to be clean before you get in," Watanuki explained.

"You can shower first, princess," Syaoran said.

"Please just call me Sakura! I've known you for almost a year it seems."

"Yes, of course," Syaoran said, fighting back the twinge he felt on his heart. She hopped off to the bathroom.

"I guess Doumeki and I will meet you all in the main building. Don't take too long!"

***

"Do you want the shower first?" Watanuki asked when they returned to their shack.

"You're actually giving me a choice?" Doumeki mused.

"Quit being a smartass and just choose!"

"You can go first. You probably need it more than I do," Doumeki said with a grin.

"As if! If anyone's dirty, it's you!"

"Oh no. I guess that means I'll have to use the shower first all the time then." He gathered his things and headed out of the shack to the small shower beside it.

"That's right you do! Huh? Wait! You tricked me, you jerk!" Watanuki yelled while flailing about. Sadly, Doumeki had already left. "What an ass," Watanuki mumbled as he plopped down on a chair at the table.

Doumeki returned about ten minutes later. "You turn." His hair was still wet and he was lightly ruffling it with a towel.

"If you don't dry your hair properly it'll make your clothes all wet," Watanuki pointed out.

"Now who's playing mama?" Doumeki replied sarcastically.

Watanuki rolled his eyes and gathered his things. He gave a Doumeki an angry look and found himself watching a drop of water traveling down his neck. It looked like something out of an Axe commercial, Watanuki thought. He swallowed. He turned away quickly and rushed out to the shower.

Watanuki's shower thankfully cleared his head and he walked calmly beside Doumeki into the main building where the others were already waiting. Thankfully, they'd all discovered the yukatas in their room and put them on.

"I hope you're all wearing something underneath those," Watanuki said when they approached them.

"Don't worry. We all have underwear on. With the exception of Mokona of course," Fai assured him.

Watanuki bent to Sakura's height. "Sakura-chan, you look so cute! Did you put your hair up yourself?" Sakura's hair was in a small bun with little plastic clips that had small cherry blossoms on them.

She smiled. "No, Fai helped me. Syaoran got the clips for me earlier and said I should wear them. Do they look okay?"

"They look wonderful," Watanuki said. She looked at Syaoran and he nodded.

A hand fell on Watanuki's shoulder. "Yo!"

He turned to see Toa standing behind him with his hair in a tight ponytail on top of his head. "Are we all ready?" he asked eagerly.

"Yeah. Let's go!"

When they reached the onsens, they were faced with a men's and a women's bath.

"Oh no. Sakura-chan's the only girl," Watanuki said with a worried look.

"Mokona will go with Sakura!" the white ball of fluff exclaimed. "Quickly! Mokona wants to get in!" They left into the curtain that led to the women's bath.

"Wait! Is Mokona a boy or a girl?" Syaoran asked worriedly.

"Calm down, Syaoran. Mokona's not a human. It'll be fine," Fai said, giving Syaoran a pat on the shoulder.

"Oh. Right."

The six of them stripped down to nothing and slipped into the hot milky waters. They had towels beside them to wrap around their waists for when they got out. Good thing the water's so milky, Watanuki thought. He was extremely self-conscious. Too bad the water's so milky, Doumeki thought. He was extremely Watanuki-conscious.

Fai slid down until the water reached his chin. "This feels like heaven. It's rare for us to find a world where we can be so comfortable." He looked over at Syaoran. "Don't look so stiff! We'll get that feather, but for now you need to just relax. Think of it as a reward for all of your hard work."

"I guess you're right." He slid further into the water as well. He kept throwing nervous glances at the rocky wall that separated them from the women's bath.

"Oh my, Syaoran-kun! Are you trying to peak at Sakura-chan?" Fai teased.

"N-no!" the boy said quickly, blushing violently.

"I'm just kidding! Don't you try and peek at me, Kuro-pii. That kind of thing is reserved for bedrooms."

"Who wants to peek at you!?"

"You're so defensive!"

Toa laughed and slid next to Watanuki. "You have the most interesting friends. I bet life's never boring for you, huh?"

Watanuki thought about his life. His job, his strange errands, his strange ability… "I guess you're right. Definetly never a dull moment. But, you get to live in this huge resort skiing and snowboarding as much as you want. That must be fun too"

"Nah. After a while, I have a desire to go somewhere warm. I get to go to Hawaii to see my family every year at least. But I don't know anyone like the people you hang out with."

Doumeki slid in close on Watanuki's other side. "Hey Doumeki. We were just talking about how interesting all of Watanuki's friends are. You two are close, aren't you?" Toa said with an eyebrow raised.

"So everyone says…" Watanuki said under his breath.

They both inched closer to Watanuki. "Ok guys. We're all naked and this is just plain uncomfortable," Watanuki said, gesturing them to back off a little.

"You're right. Real men wrestle when they're naked!" Toa exclaimed.

Kurogane perked up. "Wrestle you say? I'll take on any of you. I'll even take on all of you." An aggressive smile came on his face.

"How about me?" Fai asked, standing up.

Kurogane looked at his pale slender body and backed away. "N-no thanks," he stuttered.

"Why not? Scared?"

"I just don't feel like it," he said, his eyes still on Fai.

"Whatever you say," Fai said with a sigh. Darn, he thought.

"I'll take you on," Syaoran offered.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, kid! This is part of your training!"

It was all a lot of fun, but Watanuki started growing dizzy from the heat. He never did last long in water this hot. "I'm getting out before I pass out," he told the others. It was complete nighttime anyway. The others felt their stomachs gurgle and decided that it was time for dinner. Watanuki stepped out and whipped on his towel lightening fast. The others followed right behind him. The dizziness rushed through Watanuki's head and he stumbled straight into Doumeki's arms.

"Oi. Be careful," Doumeki whispered in his ear. He was relishing the feeling of Watanuki's body pressed up against his. Watanuki, on the other hand, freaked.

"Okay! I'll be careful!"

"You're yelling."

"Me? I'M NOT YELLING!"

"You're all red. You're probably still dizzy. Let me help you walk."

"Not when we're in nothing but towels!"

Fai was observing the two carefully. He placed the back of his hand to his forehead and forced a groan. He then intentionally fell straight onto Kurogane.

"I'm so dizzy, Kuro-chan…" he said in a meek voice.

"Seriously? Jeez, I thought you were made of tougher stuff," Kurogane said, holding his shoulders to steady him.

Fai wrapped his arms around him. "You're going to have to carry me!"

Kurogane looked down at his smiling face. "You're faking it, you lazy ass! Carry yourself." He shoved Fai aside. He couldn't believe how slender and soft the wizard felt. He almost didn't want to let go.

"Syaoran! Syaoran!" Mokona's voice rang over the wall.

"What is it?" Syaoran asked.

"Sakura got out of the water and fainted right after she put her towel on! She got dizzy!"

"Ah! Princess!"

After everyone had dried off and changed, they entered the main building and decided on a traditional Japanese dinner with some sake for those who were old enough. They made sure to keep it far away from Sakura.

They clinked their glasses together. "Kampai!" they shouted.

Even as he laughed with the others, Watanuki dreaded his meeting with Toshiro Kikuchi tomorrow and other things that would befall him.


	5. As the Darkness Grows

**Poison:** Hello everyone. I'm currently working off of about 5 hours of sleep, so please bear with me. I had to type the last part of the chapter running off of about three hours and ended up staying up late into today. It's not easy being a high schooler with hard classes and track after school. Ugh. Anyway, things finally went into motion in this chapter. There's even a yaoi scene! Yay! It's really short though… Oh well. There was no time. It was either that or nothing. Unfortunately, it's not DouWata yet. I'm veeeeery close though, so be patient. Japanese-knowing people, don't bother me about the name Kailani. I know that there's no L in the Japanese language, but Kailani is Hawaiian. This chapter was actually supposed to be longer, but there wasn't enough time so I decided that they can go into the next chapter. Sorry this is up kind of late. It's still Wednesday at least, right? Do enjoy this chapter and please review!

-Follow us-

Where?

-It doesn't matter. Just follow us.-

Why are we running?

-To get away. What other reason would there be?-

To get away from what?

-You ask too many questions. Just keep running.-

And so, Watanuki kept running. The faceless black shapes had now gained more recognizable forms. It looked like one was a boy and the other was a girl. They looked young; a little bit younger than himself. However, he still couldn't make out their faces or their clothes or anything like that.

Suddenly, the boy vanished. Watanuki looked left and right for where he had gone, but couldn't find him anywhere. He then heard the sound of weeping.

-I wish he'd come back, - the girl said between sobs.

Come back? What happened?

His question was never answered. He rolled off of the futon onto the cold floor and took the entire blanket with him. "Hmm?" he grumbled as he was rudely awakened.

"What the?" Doumeki woke to the feeling of the blankets being yanked off and looked over to see the Watanuki burrito. He snorted for a few seconds before breaking out in laughter.

"What's so funny? Damn, this thing is wrapped tight!" He inched off the ground and balanced unsteadily, still bound by the blankets. He rustled around for a few seconds before the blanket came loose and fell to the floor. He plopped down on a chair at the small table.

"You're not a peaceful sleeper, are you?" Doumeki mused.

"Be quiet. It was just that dumb dream again," Watanuki said while he fumbled with his glasses.

Doumeki pushed himself up. "Again? What dream are you talking about?"

"Oh, that's right. I haven't told anyone…" He thought back to his dream. Would they keep getting more vivid? He was sure that they took place in that forested area. It would probably give me more clues, he thought.

"Well? Are you going to tell me?" Doumeki pressed.

"Yeah, sorry. I think it ties in to the mystery we're trying to solve, now that I think about it. I started having these dreams from the first night we got here. I'm positive they take place in that forested area. There are always these two figures in front of me. No, scratch that. Last night I could make them out a little better. One's a boy and one's a girl and they look pretty young. They asked me to follow them, so I did for a ways. The weird part was that the boy suddenly vanished and the girl started crying and saying that she wanted him back. It was so sad," he finished with a solemn look at the ground.

Doumeki stood up and walked over to him. He placed his hands on his shoulders and looked at him sternly. "Why didn't you say this before? It could've been a big help. You're such an idiot."

"Sorry! I don't exactly feel like my personal dreams should be public knowledge, okay?"

"Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry."

"See, I knew you were gonna start this—what?"

"I understand. It's not anyone's place to delve into your dreams."

"You're agreeing with me? In that case, I'd love to tell everyone what I dream about!"

"Why are you so against us getting along?" Doumeki asked angrily.

"Well…" Watanuki couldn't think of an answer. Doumeki had been nothing but kind to him this entire trip and he kept acting like an ass. Was it just because he'd never liked him in the first place? Why hadn't he liked him in the first place? Oh, that's right. Doumeki was extremely popular with girls and Watanuki was afraid he would take Himawari from him. Even though it was blatantly obvious Doumeki had no interest in the girl, Watanuki was still defensive. But in these days that felt like years away from his normal life, what did Himawari mean to him now? He could hardly bring up her face in his mind. Doumeki broke into his thoughts.

"Why don't we just try being friends?"

Watanuki stared up at the other boy and saw pleading in his brown eyes. Their conflicts were really hurting him, Watanuki realized. He certainly didn't want to be the bad guy here. He stood up, although he still had to look up because of the height difference, and smiled.

"Yeah. Why not? Let's try being friends. But not best buddies or anything like that, okay? Put her there." He firmly shook hands with Doumeki.

What Doumeki did next surprised him. His face collapsed under his smile and he pulled Watanuki into a hug.

"Hey. I said no best buddy stuff." His comment was muffled by Doumeki's shoulder and he didn't hear it anyway. Watanuki hadn't even thought that kind of smile was a possible function of Doumeki's face muscles. His first instinct was to shove him off and snap at him, but he forced himself back and told himself to give friendship a fighting chance. Instead, he brought one of his hands up and gently patted Doumeki on the back. "Alright, big guy. I'm not going anywhere, so you can let go."

Doumeki pulled away and still had that silly grin on his face. "Ok, Wata-kun."

"Hey, hey. I'm still Watanuki and you're still Doumeki, got it?"

"Right. Watanuki."

Watanuki left Doumeki to his new-found happiness and began getting ready for his meeting with Mr. Kikuchi. He made sure that his outfit looked nice and threw the lucky rabbit's foot in his pocket. He stared at the rusty doorknob for a moment. Wonder what I'll need it for, he thought. He pushed his pager and he and Doumeki waited outside for Kenji to fetch them.

"So what do you want to do when you're done?" Doumeki asked.

"Hm? I don't know. We'll have to meet up with the others first."

"Oh. Yeah." Doumeki's plans were shot down.

The small silver shuttle whipped around the corner and in front of their shack lightening fast, spraying snow everywhere. The door popped open and Kenji could be heard cheerfully saying, "Get in! Get in!"

They climbed in and were greeted by Kenji's laugh and fake race car sounds as he started up the shuttle. Once they started moving, he began whistling.

"Gosh, what's got you so happy?" Watanuki asked.

"Just decided to do something I should have done a long time ago. Truthfully, I'm nervous."

"Whatever it is, good luck! Here. Close your eyes and make a wish with this." Watanuki handed him the rabbit's foot. Kenji gave it a big smooch and handed it back. "Thank you! And how are you and the big guy holding up?"

"We're fine. Not fighting as much anymore, I guess," Watanuki said awkwardly. He threw a forced smile at Doumeki. He was going to have to get used to this.

"Wonderful! I'll see you both later!" Kenji dropped them off and continued happily on his way. Watanuki laughed. "I wonder what's got that guy worked up."

They went around the main building and headed for the administrative building where Kikuchi's office was. To their surprise, they found Sakura standing outside the building, staring at the ground

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing here? I thought Syaoran never took his eye off of you," Watanuki said, staring at the ground too but seeing nothing but snow.

"I snuck away. I wanted to see what was all outside. Does it always snow like this?" she asked.

"No. In the spring and summer, all the snow is gone and there's grass and plants all over this mountain."

"So there are flowers as well?"

"Of course."

"That's good. I was just thinking about how sad it would be if a flower could never poke its way up through this ground."

"As important as that sounds, you need to get back to the others. Or at least get inside. It's freezing out here."

"I don't want to try and find them on my own," Sakura said, slightly frightened at the thought of just how big the resort was.

"Err, then I guess you'll have to follow me with Doumeki. Remember Doumeki, stay as far behind me as you can. And don't let Sakura out of your sight either, I guess."

He nodded and watched Watanuki enter the building. He counted to ten slowly before entering after him. Thankfully word had spread fast about the French celebrity and his cousins and lover, so when other members of the administration saw Doumeki with Sakura, they neither challenged nor questioned either of them as to why they were there. Doumeki grabbed Sakura's hand so that he could keep his eyes glued to the figure up ahead that was Watanuki without worrying about her wandering off.

Watanuki, meanwhile, was amazed at how well the rabbit's foot was working. "It's just some cheap thing from the store, but I don't even smell anything foul," he whispered to himself. He hardly even realized when he reached Kikuchi's office. The only thing that told him to stop at that door was the steady flow of black, poisoned air that was seeping out from underneath the door. "So it's gotten worse," Watanuki observed, thankful he could only see it and not smell it.

Doumeki pulled Sakura along and hid behind a wall near Kikuchi's office. "Damn. There's no way we'll be able to hear what's happening from here."

Sakura looked at Doumeki quickly. "I have an idea."

She quickly got down on all fours and started crawling over to the door.

"What are you doing?!" Doumeki hissed.

"I want to be useful!" she spat back before continuing. She didn't make a sound and Watanuki didn't even know when she was right behind him. Sakura almost had to hold her breath.

Watanuki rapped on the door with the back of his hand. "Enter," Kikuchi's voice boomed in reply. Watanuki opened the door and stepped inside. Sakura threw Doumeki one last assuring smile before crawling in after Watanuki.

As she had hoped, this man had a large desk that he was sitting at, like other people of importance. While Watanuki walked over to a chair and sat down facing Kikuchi, she held her breath and scuttled to a large plant in the corner and hid behind the huge pot. She took a long sigh of relief.

"It's you. The ghost boy. Have you done what I asked yet?" Kikuchi asked, skipping greetings and getting straight down to business.

"No sir. I have spent my time so far doing research on the spirits and I'm getting very close. I just need some information from you." Watanuki tried as hard as he could not to let the giant black blob floating around the room distract him.

"I thought I already talked to you and your friend. Where is he, anyway?"

"Busy doing more research. After looking into this, I've found some new questions I want to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"How far does the property for this land stretch?"

"It stretches for about five miles beyond the actual resort so that nothing else can be built here to distract our guests."

"So all that forested area is yours as well."

"That is true."

Watanuki felt all of his questions burning inside him, longing to be released. However, he was almost too terrified to ask.

"Is there a large pond on the property?"

Now this must have hit a vital spot. Kikuchi lost his reserved air and his wrinkles furrowed with some emotion that Watanuki couldn't tell. He looked like he'd aged even further.

"No. There aren't any ponds." The black blob fattened around his desk.

"Funny. In some newspaper articles I read, it said that you yourself reported the missing bodies found in a pond on your property."

Kikuchi's ears burned. "The press is always putting words into people's mouths, don't you know that?" The black blob stretched down to the floor.

"Well, you haven't denied that you said that."

"This has nothing to do with that silly little exorcism I hired you for."

Watanuki was getting frustrated. He no longer felt afraid to ask now. "Why did you cover up Yumi and Aya's death?" He was at the edge of his seat.

"I wasn't covering up anything. I was trying to get people to move on with their lives." The carpet was slowly decorated by the black aura.

"Two human beings go missing and you want everyone to move on just like that? The girl who works at the front desk, Hiroko—did you think about how she felt about losing her best friends?"

"If you're not going to ask me anything productive, then leave!" The black gunk wisped across the floor and past Watanuki's feet.

"You're hiding something! You don't want those spirits gone because the guests are afraid. You want them gone because them being around is going to dig up something you want left buried!" Watanuki was standing now and almost yelling. Sakura flinched back from her place in the corner. She really didn't want to be in that room now.

Kikuchi stood up as well. "If you don't leave this room right now and take care of those spirits, then I'll throw you out and find someone else to do the job!" There was a silent explosion as the walls of the room were coated in black.

Intense scowls were exchanged between the two for a moment and Sakura didn't blink, half afraid that they would leap at each other's throats. Thankfully, Watanuki only inhaled deeply through his nose before turning and leaving the room. Kikuchi sat back down and smoothed back his gray hair. Even though he'd shown superiority just now, there was sweat on his brow and raw fear in his eyes. A couple seconds later, he went into his private bathroom that was connected to his office.

After Sakura heard the bathroom door click, she crawled over to Kikuchi's desk. Maybe I'll find something, she thought. She dug through his drawers looking for a journal or maybe a letter that entitled something about what Kikuchi could be hiding. Unfortunately, she could only find old bills, papers with large numbers (most likely money) being added up, and the occasional cartoon cut out of a newspaper or magazine. She was about to close the last drawer and leave when she spotted something at the very back. She reached in and pulled out a photograph. She barely had time to glance at it as she heard a toilet flushing and a faucet being turned on. She shoved the photograph in her pocket and bolted out the door.

She immediately made her way over to Watanuki and Doumeki. They both gave her expressions of both worry and relief.

"You scared me there when Watanuki came out and you didn't," Doumeki said almost breathlessly.

"I'm sorry, but I found—"

"Crap! It's already this late?! Syaoran'll kill us if we don't get you back to the main building!" Watanuki cut her off before grabbing her wrist and sprinting off with her. She decided to wait until a better time to tell them about the photograph. She hadn't even looked at it clearly yet herself.

As expected, when they reached the main building, the others were found frantically searching for Sakura. Or rather, Syaoran was frantically searching while Kurogane and Fai kept cool heads and Mokona remained cheerful. Syaoran almost burst into tears when Watanuki, Doumeki, and Sakura walked inside.

"Princess! There you are! Where did you go? Why didn't you tell anyone you were leaving? I thought you'd been taken by the spirits!" He was almost sweating as he rambled.

"I only went for a walk, Syaoran-kun. I'm so sorry you had to worry," she said, gently touching his hand.

"It's fine. Just tell one of us next time, okay? Thank you so much for finding her, you two."

Watanuki's expression became serious. "You're welcome and all that, but now that we're all here, there are a few things I need to tell you. Let's go up to your room where no one can overhear."

Syaoran immediately recognized the importance of the situation and nodded. "Right. Kurogane! Fai! Mokona!" he called to the others. "We're going back upstairs. Watanuki wants to talk."

"Aw. Guess we'll have to save our foreplay for later, Kuro-tan," Fai said with a fake pout.

"You're twisted!"

"Kurogane and Fai are being left behind!" chimed Mokona. The two looked over to see that the others were already in an elevator with the door closing.

"Look what you did now, wizard!"

"Run Kuro-pii, run!"

***

After Watanuki had finished telling them about his dreams and his meeting with Kikuchi, the silence was almost suffocating. Everyone was racking their brains for an answer that was right in front of them but untouchable.

"So that black stuff was like his lies? You said it grew every time he spoke," Syaoran asked after a while.

"No. I've been around that kind of problem. It wasn't the same kind of feeling. It was much worse. I think it was something like anxiety mixed with guilt. It makes sense since he's obviously hiding something," said Watanuki.

"What about his dreams? Do his dreams shed light on anything?" Doumeki asked Fai.

"Why ask me?" Fai asked.

"You seem to be wise beyond your appearance."

Kurogane snorted. "This guy denies anything that's beyond the surface of his outer personality."

"Oh hush, Kuro-chii. What can I say about it, you ask?" He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. He grinned up at the ceiling and tilted his head to one side before saying "I have no clue."

"Then why offer to answer?!" Kurogane said angrily. Fai only shrugged and Kurogane rolled his eyes.

"Personally, I think my dream means that there's two spirits down there: the girl and the boy. The boy's disappearance and the girl's crying must have something to do with how they died," Watanuki imputed.

"Like heartbreak!" Sakura exclaimed.

"That's right. Yesterday we were talking about how both victims had been heartbroken before they disappeared. It's starting to make more sense." Despite this realization, Syaoran frowned. "But this doesn't bring us any closer to getting past that barrier."

"Syaoran! Didn't I tell you not to worry about that? We've made some progress, so I say we all take a break and go do something fun," Fai proposed.

"You always want to go do something fun," Kurogane complained. "Don't you know the meaning of hard work and perseverance?"

"I just want to do all we can while we're in such a nice world. Especially with you, Kuro-poo." Fai leaned close to Kurogane and the big burly warrior shoved him away with wide eyes and red cheeks.

"S-stop doing that!"

Fai was unfazed. "Come on, everyone. Let's all go to the massage therapy building."

After four nights of sleeping on a crappy futon, Watanuki agreed.

***

On his break, Toa decided to take some time off of his family history research to go see a friend. With his hair free from a hair band, a loose tank top, and some baggy jeans, he looked like a delicious Hawaiian treat.

He strolled past the small restaurants in the main building until he reached a quaint little French café. He smiled from ear to ear and went right in. He found a two-seater table by a far off wall and waited.

The place was swarming with Yamada's dressed in French waiter outfits busily taking orders. Toa looked from face to face of each Yamada, but couldn't find the one he was looking for. One of them made his way over to Toa's table.

"_Vous désirez?_" he asked in the manner that real French waiters did.

"Hi, is Kenji working today?" Toa asked.

"Yes. He's in the back. Do you need him?"

"Yeah. I want two chocolate mousses. Can you get him to bring them to me?" Toa twirled his finger in a circle on the table.

"Certainly. _Un moment, s'il-vous-plait._"

Moments later, a Yamada could be seen walking out from the back perfectly balancing a silver tray on his fingers that held two glasses of chocolate mousse with whip cream and cherries. He looked about for a minute before his eyes landed on Toa. A smile broke across his face and it was obvious that Kenji stood out from the other Yamada's. He was definetly the cutest.

"_Voici, monsieur. _How's it going, Toa? It's been a while," Kenji said, setting the tray down.

"Yeah, it's been hectic. Sit down! Eat with me. I got two for a reason."

Kenji eagerly took his seat across the table. Out of nervousness, Kenji dug his spoon into his chocolate mousse and munched away. Thankfully, Toa filled the silence.

"It sucks that we only see each other in the employee building these days. You're like, the best friend I have in this place. I can't wait until the busy season is over so we can hang out more. How's work been going? Have you just been working here?" Toa asked.

"No. Actually, a couple guys rented out that honey moon suite way off of the building. That old shack right by the forest. I've been driving them back in forth in a shuttle all week. They're quite interesting," Kenji said, easing up and putting his spoon down.

"You mean Kimihiro and Doumeki? Or, you probably know him as Watanuki. I gave Watanuki snowboarding lessons this week and I've been helping them figure out this mystery they're trying to solve in my free time. Kimihiro's such a nice guy. He doesn't seem to be too fond of Doumeki, though." He popped a bit of mousse in his mouth.

All this talk about Watanuki and Doumeki reminded Kenji of the task he'd told them about this morning; the one he had decided to do today. He grew red at the thought.

"Um, Toa? Do you think we could, um, meet up later today? I have to talk to you about something." Kenji's ears burned from all the blood in his head.

Toa put down his spoon and gave Kenji a concerned look. "Of course. Is something wrong? You can tell me anything, Kenji."

"Oh no! It's nothing like that. Everything's fine. I just… need to talk to you." Kenji could feel his voice and confidence faltering.

Toa shoveled the last bit of mousse in his mouth and chomped down on the cherry. He produced a perfectly tied cherry stem only a few seconds later. "Sure. Come by when you get off duty. I know you get off later than I do. I'll be in my room." He slapped down some money on the table and stood up. Before he left, he ruffled Kenji's hair and said, "You know, that outfit looks really cute on you." And with that, he left.

Kenji watched him leave, red as a sunburned tourist.

***

"Oh yeah. Riiiiiigggghhht there," Fai purred as a Yamada ground his thumbs into the wizard's back. They'd all given in to Fai's idea to go to the massage therapy building and were now happy that they had. Kurogane watched him carefully from where he and Syaoran were getting their feet rubbed.

"My," one of the foot-rubbers said, "you two must do some intense activities. I've never seen feet so calloused and strong."

"Of course. I'm a warri-"

Syaoran elbowed him. "Don't be stupid," he whispered. Kurogane scowled and went silent.

Sakura was busily getting a make-over. When they'd walked in, a couple of Tanaka's had spotted and thought her to be the cutest thing. "Those eyes!" they would say as they fawned over her.

Mokona was getting special treatment from the pet groomers with a bath, a trim, and lots of attention.

Watanuki had ended up in the manicure area with Doumeki by his side, watching.

"You have lovely hands," said a Tanaka. "They're so soft and slender. You're fingernails are nice too. They just need a little trim and they'll be perfect." She pulled out a file and gently began working on his left hand.

"This feels weird," Watanuki muttered. Manicures were definetly not his thing.

"She's right though. You've got nice hands," Doumeki said as he looked more closely.

"Even coming from a friend, that's weird."

Doumeki gave him a sly smile.

"What?" Watanuki asked, annoyed at his cocky expression.

"You just called me a friend."

"So? We decided we were, didn't we? Don't ruin it by being an ass."

"I know. It's just that I didn't think you'd actually acknowledge it. I'm glad."

Watanuki felt butterflies zoom around in his stomach and float up to his chest and head.

"W-whatever," he stammered. He quickly distracted himself with something else. He'd been wanting to go and take a look at the barrier himself. The only problem was that he wanted to go by himself but didn't think Doumeki and the others would let him. He thought about sneaking there at night, but he dared not go back there in the dark. It's only Wednesday, he forced himself to think. Just relax.

"There you are. I glossed them too, so that they'll stay strong." The Tanaka stood up, proud of her creation. Even Watanuki had to admit that they looked pretty good. Doumeki reached over and took one of his hands. He held Watanuki's middle finger in between his index and thumb and studied the nail. Watanuki felt the butterflies return.

"You done looking?" Watanuki's voice cracked despite his efforts to keep his voice steady.

Doumeki looked up and moved his face in close. "Yeah. But only at your finger."

Watanuki opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped. Something lurched inside him. "This feeling… what is it?" he said in almost a whisper.

Doumeki moved away. "What feeling?"

"Something's moving. It's… growing. Something's going to happen." Watanuki took only a second to realize what it was. "It's Kikuchi. He's on the move."

"Where?" Doumeki asked urgently.

"East of here. What building is east?" Watanuki asked.

"The employee building, I think."

Watanuki leapt out of his chair.

"Toa!"

***

Toa rubbed his eyes. He'd been searching through websites and other references since he's gotten off of work and hadn't found much about his family that he didn't already know. He thought about giving up for now, but decided it wouldn't hurt to go for another half hour or so. Kenji didn't get off work for a while after all. He tried a different search engine and typed in Kikuchi Waka as he had been doing for hours. It pulled up the same old websites he'd gotten earlier and he sighed in quiet frustration. As he was about to sign off, something caught his eye. At the top of the search page, in blue letters, it said Did you mean: _Kikuchi Waka murder_? Toa quickly clicked it.

A whole new listed rolled out onto the screen. He clicked the first link. It was nothing but a list of people in his family and when they'd died, so he went back and continued down the list. He continued to get vague pages like that when he finally came upon a name: Kailani Waka, died at age 23. That's awful young, Toa thought. He clicked back and spotted a website that was less mainstream. When he clicked on it, a mass of words appeared on the screen. And so, Toa began to read.

It said something along these lines: Kailani Waka, 23, was found dead at Kikuchi ski resort. The cause of death is unknown, although it was suspected to be murder. However, all suspects have a legitimate alibi (and most likely a good lawyer) and are free of all charges. It seemed like a very uneventful death because of the limited information. There was much more written on how the new heir to the resort, Toshiro Kikuchi, had gotten married a few days later and taken the resort in his father's place. Toshiro Kikuchi… That's the current owner, the ones the others are suspicious of, Toa figured. That was the extent that the internet could give him. He clicked back to some Waka family trees he'd been looking at earlier. He found Kailani's name and found that he was one of his distant great-uncles. He thought that maybe his grandfather knew something about this. It had happened when he was about the same age as Kailani Waka was when he died. He whipped out his cell and dialed his grandfather's number.

"Hello?" a husky old voice answered.

"Grand-papa? It's me, Toa. I want to ask you something about our family," Toa replied.

"Ah, Toa. How are you? Is Japan nice?"

"It's wonderful, but I have an important question."

"Of course, of course. Go ahead."

Toa hoped that the old man had enough of his memory left. "Do you remember Kailani Waka?"

The other end of the line was silent, save some soft static. "What do you want to know?" his grandfather asked softly.

"Well, it's about how he died. There wasn't much info on it, so I thought I should ask you. It's where the first connection between the Waka family and the Kikuchi starts, so I'm curious."

Toa didn't hear, but footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. They stopped right outside of his room. The person stopped, listening.

"Are you alone?" his grandfather asked.

"Yes."

"Okay. This all has to do with why the Kikuchi family has an obligation to us and why you have that job. Of course you know Toshiro Kikuchi. Have you come across the name Konako Tsukiyomi in any of your searches?"

"Konako Tsukiyomi? Who's that?"

"Well, she's—"

There was a loud bang as the door to Toa's room swung open and hit the wall. He spun around to see Kikuchi coming straight for him. Kikuchi slapped the phone out of Toa's hand and it skidded across the floor. He grabbed a fistful of the Hawaiian's ebony hair and slammed him against the wall. He kept him painfully pinned there with his bony fist.

"You Hawaiian filth!" the old man screamed into Toa's face. "Do you know why you have this job? Because of me! Don't you dare go poking into things where you don't belong, you hear? If I catch you meddling into my life again, I'll send you back to that disgusting American island of yours! Understand? Answer me!"

Toa was too stunned to speak and only nodded. Kikuchi glared at him with raw hatred. This kid looked just like him…

"Good!" Kikuchi used his hold on Toa's hair to throw him to the ground and kick him violently in the ribs. Toa rolled over in pain as Kikuchi quickly left the room, slamming the door behind him.

***

There was no time to tell the others. Watanuki simply sprinted out of the massage therapy building and headed straight for the employee building. He spent a frantic moment finding Toa's name on a list of employees and their room numbers. When he'd found it, he didn't even bother with the elevator and took off up the stairs. It was a good thing he was so in shape from soccer. He turned a corner that led to the hall Toa's room was in and stopped. He watched Kikuchi exit from a room and walk the opposite way. As he stopped at the elevator, Watanuki hid behind the wall from the corner he'd just turned. When Kikuchi was gone, he dashed over to the room Kikuchi had been in a moment earlier. Without bothering to knock, he threw the door open.

"Toa?" Watanuki flipped on a light switch and found his friend against the far wall, holding his side.

"Toa! Are you alright? What happened?" Watanuki knelt down next to him and helped him up and into a chair.

"Kikuchi. He was listening in on me. I was talking to my grandfather about one of my family members that had been murdered on this property, Kailani Waka. Kikuchi was involved somehow and some girl named Konako Tsukiyomi." It was hard for Toa to speak with his aching rib.

"That man! He's just… despicable!" Watanuki fumed.

Toa looked over at his phone that had been thrown across the room. It had hit the floor hard and was now in multiple pieces. "I guess my conversation with my grand-papa is going to have to wait."

"Don't worry about that right now. I can't believe he just assaulted one of his employees! Can you stand?"

Toa slowly pushed himself up and took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"I'm glad."

"How'd you know to come here?"

"It was just a feeling."

Toa smiled. "I'm glad you have that sense." He pulled Watanuki into a deep embrace. "I love you, Kimihiro."

Watanuki froze in Toa's grasp. "Toa… I'm sorry but I don't feel that way for you. I mean, you're an awesome and irreplaceable friend, but…"

Toa released him and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Watanuki asked, failing to find humor in the moment.

"I love you dearly, not queerly! I've only known you a couple days, but it's almost like you're my brother. And not like the obnoxious ones I have back home. Don't fret."

Watanuki sighed with relief. "That's good. You mean a lot to me too, Toa."

"Glad to hear it."

There was a rumble of feet as the others ran into the room.

"Watanuki! You just ran off without warning!" Fai said.

"Was Kikuchi here like you thought?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah, and he assaulted Toa. Apparently, whatever Kikuchi's hiding, it has to do with his relative Kailani Waka and some girl named Konako Tsukiyomi."

"Are you hurt?" Sakura asked immediately.

"I'm fine," he replied, regaining his crooked smile.

"Kailani Waka and Konako Tsukiyomi…" Kurogane repeated to himself.

"More pieces to the puzzle!" Mokona hopped about on Kurogane's shoulder.

"It's late. Are you tired, princess?" Syaoran asked. Sakura nodded.

"Let's call it a night then," Fai decided.

"Will you be alright, Toa?" Watanuki asked.

"'Course. Who d'ya think I am?" Toa said with a Hawaiian lilt.

"Ok. Good night then."

***

Kenji stared at his reflection in the table he'd just scrubbed. Done, he thought.

As if on cue, another Yamada that he knew as Yoshi came out from the back. "The day's over. You can sign out now, Kenji," he said.

"Kay. See you tomorrow." Kenji dashed to the changing room and slipped out of his French waiter uniform and into some normal clothes. He ran out of the restaurant and the main building as fast as he could. When he reached the employee building, he slowed. Nervousness hit him and knocked the wind out of him. Could he really do this? What if it turned out badly? No, he thought. He'd decided to do this and there was no turning back. If it turned out bad, then oh well. That's life. He took a deep breath and stepped into the building.

The first thing he saw was a figure sprinting up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. The figure looked oddly familiar, so Kenji followed quickly behind. By the time he'd reached the stairs, the person was already out of sight but Kenji could hear his footsteps. He hesitated. Maybe he should just ignore it and go meet Toa like he'd planned. However, something tugged at him that he couldn't ignore. He clipped up the stairs and continued to follow the footsteps until they stopped. They must've gone onto a floor, Kenji thought. He was a little surprised to find himself on the floor his and Toa's rooms were on. He entered the door leading from the stairs to the hall just soon enough to see that it was Watanuki he'd been chasing. But what was he doing here?

Kenji didn't feel like running anymore. He felt a sense of foreboding. Had something happened? What could make Watanuki run so fast over here? He must have come to see Toa. Walking this time, Kenji strode down the first hall and took the turn that led to his and Toa's room.

His heart raced when he saw Toa's door ajar further down the hall. Kenji started running and stopped in front of Toa's room. He peaked inside.

He couldn't believe what he saw. Toa was lovingly holding Watanuki and Watanuki wasn't putting up a fight. Wasn't he with Doumeki? He held his breath so he could hear.

"I love you," he heard Toa say as he held Watanuki even tighter.

His heart had just been racing, but in a split second it slowed to a crawl. Toa loved… Watanuki? But… No! It wasn't supposed to happen like this! He was the one who was supposed to be in Toa's arms! Without thinking, he dashed down the hall and back down the stairs until he was once again in the lobby of the employee building. When he stopped, he realized that tears were streaming down his face.

"It's not fair… Dammit!" He punched the wall, but it only caused his hand extreme pain. He leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. He drew his legs up to his chest and cried into his knees. It's not fair, it's not fair, he kept chanting to himself. A large group of people ran into the building and up the stairs, but they took no notice of them and Kenji didn't care.

-You poor thing-

Kenji's head snapped up. "Who…?"

-You are suffering. You lost your love, didn't you? Just like me-

"What's that voice? Is someone there?"

-Shhh. Just come with me-

"Who are you?!"

-I'm your savior. Listen to me. Just forget about this place. Forget about what you feel for this place-

Suddenly, it was like Kenji had been drained of his soul. His eyes went dull and his skin lost its color. The tears on his face were gone, along with any human expression. He stood up mechanically and stared straight ahead.

-Shall we go?-

"Yes."

***

"Okay, it's time for kids like you to go to sleep!" Fai joked at Syaoran and Sakura as they played cards in the small living room in their suite.

"Can't we play just one more game?" Sakura asked.

"But aren't you tired, Sakura-chan?" Fai asked.

"Well, yes, but I want to play one more game," she pleaded.

"Mokona's been keeping score! Sakura's really good! She always beats Syaoran!" Mokona said, twirling a pencil around. Syaoran tried to suppress a chuckle and failed.

"What's so funny? You're not letting me win, are you? Syaoran!"

"No, princess. It's really you, I swear. But I agree with Fai. I'm exhausted. Let's get some sleep, ok?"

Sakura sighed. "Alright. And stop calling me princess. It's Sakura. Sa-ku-ra."

"Then let's go to bed, Sakura."

She smiled. "Good job," she told him.

Sakura told Syaoran that she wanted to change first, so he waited patiently outside the door of their room. She threw on pajamas quickly and fished the photograph out of her skirt pocket. She'd wanted to show the others today, but just couldn't seem to find the time with all that had happened. She would definetly show them tomorrow. The photograph itself was rather plain, but Sakura had noticed something about it that made her think that it was urgent.

"Sakura? Are you almost done?" Syaoran asked through the door.

Sakura slipped the photograph into her pillowcase. "Yes. You can come in. I'm ready for bed."

On the other side of the suite, Kurogane and Fai were also settling into bed.

"The undergarments in this world are so peculiar," Fai said as he pulled out the blankets on his side of the bed. He was wearing boxers with a thin, baby blue robe over them. "They're like shorts."

Kurogane slid into his side wearing pajama bottoms but no shirt. "Everything about this world is peculiar," he said as he stared at the ceiling.

After turning the light off, Fai slipped in beside him and watched the warrior stare upwards. "Whatcha thinking about, Kuro-pii?

Kurogane didn't move his gaze. "Nothing. I'm thinking about sleep."

"So simple-minded! That's one of the things I love about you," Fai chuckled.

Kurogane shot up. "Would you cut that out already?!"

Fai slowly sat up. This wasn't Kurogane's usual ranting. He was genuinely angry this time. He was glaring hard at the sheets in front of him and his face was red. Under his anger was a look of anxiety and frustration.

"What's wrong, Kuro-tan?" Fai asked softly.

"Ever since we got here, you've been calling me your lover and all that. I could've easily just been another cousin. So why did you choose 'lover' instead?"

"Because it just seems to fit! And it makes you fret."

"Why does it fit? And your acting. Even when no one's around you do it! Why?!"

Fai's smile was gone. "Because I want to, Kuro-chii."

"But why? Are those fake feelings actually real? Or are you just messing with me and my feelings…" His voice tapered off and he returned to staring at the sheets in front of him.

It was dark, but Kurogane's eyes had adjusted enough to see Fai moving close to him out of the corner of his eye. He brought his head up and stared at the wizard's face.

Before he had a chance to react, the wizard pressed his lips onto Kurogane's. The warrior's eyes grew wide and the kiss seemed to be over just as it had begun. "Does that answer your question?" Fai said in almost a whisper. Kurogane thought about his words for only a second. He immediately returned the kiss with another one. Kurogane drove Fai back onto his back and slipped his tongue into Fai's mouth. He placed his legs on either side of the wizard's body and drove the kiss deeper. Fai had no complaints. Kurogane found his hand sliding into Fai's robe and ushering it off, exposing Fai's bare shoulders. Soon it came off all the way and their bare chests were pressed up against one another. They could both feel the heat as their hips rocked against one another's.

Kurogane pulled his mouth away and moved down to Fai's neck. He licked and nipped at every inch he could find while his hands continued to slide up and down Fai's torso. The wizard shivered and let out small moans. The warrior's hand made its way down south and slipped off the wizard's boxers. He handled him gently and Fai let out a gasp. Kurogane's mouth trailed down to his collarbone and his hands were now stroking his inner thigh.

Somehow, Kurogane managed to shimmy out of his pajama bottoms and boxers without making it noticeable and he and Fai were nothing but a single mass of skin. Kurogane's hands had been everywhere by now and Fai's eyes were glazed over from it all. He spread the wizard and slowly began thrusting. Fai's fingers dug into Kurogane's hair and he grasped it tightly. Kurogane gradually got faster and sounds of pleasure erupted from Fai's throat. The warrior gave a strong final thrust.

After their heart rates had gone down, they found themselves looking into each other's faces.

"I love you, Fai D. Flowright," Kurogane said with assertion.

"I love you too… Kurogane."

They fell asleep in each other's arms.

***

Watanuki pressed his pager for the fifth time, but still Kenji did not show up in the shuttle. Doumeki tried his as well and they checked the batteries and could find nothing wrong.

"Maybe he went to sleep early," Watanuki suggested.

"Could be. I guess we'll just have to walk back."

The trip would not have seemed so long had it not been so dark. Watanuki winced with every step, afraid of what lurked in the night. He then remembered that Doumeki's presence kept the evils away and felt a little better. He was still afraid of worldly dangers though.

"Can you see? Have your eyes adjusted?" Doumeki asked.

"No. My night vision is terrible," Watanuki whined.

"That's ok. I can see." He took Watanuki's hand. He thought about pulling away, but didn't want to trip on anything and decided to let Doumeki lead him.

"We're here," Doumeki said when they arrived. When they entered, Watanuki instantly groped for candles and lit them.

"There. I can see now." He began changing for bed. After he and Doumeki had slipped on their pajamas, Doumeki spoke.

"What really happened?"

"You mean with Toa?"

"Yeah."

"Kikuchi was listening in on him. He heard him getting into something that I guess he wanted to keep secret and threatened him. He threw him to the ground and everything. That ass-hole."

"That's not what I meant. Did anything else happen? Like between you and Toa?" Doumeki's voice was shaky.

"Well… kind of. He just suddenly hugged me and told me he loved me," Watanuki said nervously.

Doumeki's eyes grew wide. "He didn't do anything else, did he?"

"No. He even told me that he loved me like a little brother. It wasn't that big a deal."

"Not that big a deal?! What if he'd been lying and tried something else? I'm pretty sure that he's stronger than you."

"Toa's not that kind of person! He's my friend, and he thinks he's yours too. Quit being a jerk. Why are you being so damn protective?"

Doumeki pinned Watanuki up against the table. "Because I care about you."

Watanuki began to sweat. "O-ok, but could you tone it down a bit?"

Doumeki replied by pushing his body closer. "C-come on, Doumeki. Let's not fight. We're friends now right?" Watanuki felt his entire body trembling.

Doumeki watched the trembling boy with guilt. That last thing he wanted to do was frighten him. He pulled away and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry. I got carried away."

Watanuki took a deep breath. "It's okay. Let's go to sleep. I don't think I can stay awake another minute."

Watanuki later found that sleep was the last place he wanted to be that night.


	6. What Lies Beyond

**Poison:** Yo, yo. This chapter is a little shorter than most of the others. I hope no one's upset. Some reviews have said they're too long and others say that they're not long enough, so I'm not sure exactly what a good length is. A major heat wave has hit where I live and I had to gather up all my strength to withstand the heat and finish this chapter. The story's gone pretty far, but it's not over yet, so I would still appreciate comments, questions, and suggestions from you guys! If you read it, please review! And now I present chapter 6.

A twig snapped under his foot and a branch slapped his face as Watanuki ran. He didn't know exactly why he was running. All he knew was that something was being taken away from him and he needed to get it back. There were several times that he should have stumbled but didn't and it seemed he should already have been tired from the running but wasn't. However, he did not think of these things as he continued to chase whatever it was that he was following.

"You can't do this! Give him back!" Watanuki found himself yelling. "This isn't right!"

He heard the sound of the girl weeping once more.

-You know nothing. Nothing at all!-

Watanuki felt himself being thrown the ground and a pair of hands clasped around his throat. He was being choked. He kicked and fought back, but whatever was attacking him had no substance and he was doomed. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but nothing came out but gasps for air as his windpipe was being crushed.

-You're the only one who can save me. Yet you're doing nothing!-

Watanuki only had half a second to ponder that statement before everything went black.

***

Sweating and shaking, Watanuki let out an ear-shattering scream. Doumeki woke to the sound immediately and shot up, throwing the covers off of himself.

"Watanuki! Watanuki, what's wrong?" Doumeki grabbed hold of Watanuki's shoulders and shook him. The other boy just continued to kick around and scream.

"Watanuki! Calm down!"

Watanuki opened his eyes wide and fear shook clearly within them. Even though he was awake, he didn't seem aware of the world around him.

"No! Save me! Make it stop!" He clutched onto Doumeki's sleeve with a death grip.

Doumeki sat him up. "You're delirious!" He placed a hand on Watanuki's red sweating face and found that he was burning up. A fever? He knew that couldn't be it.

"Why won't anyone help me?" Watanuki cried, shaking Doumeki.

"Watanuki—"

"What are you saying? Watanuki? I don't know who that is! Just please help me! I don't want to be here anymore! Save me!"

Doumeki realized that Watanuki was being possessed. He scrambled up from the futon and grabbed his bow. Watanuki continued to wail and crawl towards him but he was able to aim and shoot before he got to him again. The spirit arrow went into Watanuki's body and expelled whatever had been inside him. The spirit was only grazed by the arrow, however, and managed to get away. The important thing was that it was gone.

Doumeki kneeled down beside Watanuki. "Are you alright? It's gone now." His eyes widened when he found tears streaming down Watanuki's face. "Watanuki!"

"I-I don't know why I'm crying. Whatever was just in me… they were so sad. They were suffering so much. I… I just can't stop crying!" He was cut off by a sob that filled his throat.

Doumeki wrapped his arms around him and petted his head gently, like a mother. He held him tight as he felt Watanuki convulse with sobs and dampen his shoulder. "It's ok. Whatever it was, it's gone for now. Come on, it's still dark. Why don't we go back to sleep? You'll feel better."

Watanuki took a deep breath to steady himself. He wiped his eyes and nose with his sleeve. "But what if it comes back? It happened in my dream." His voice was still shaky.

"Don't worry. I'm right here and I won't let it happen again. Just sleep, ok?"

Watanuki nodded, already feeling his eyelids droop. They crawled back into the futon and Doumeki held him close. Watanuki was too tired to process what was going on and fell right back asleep with his face buried in Doumeki's chest.

This has got to stop, Doumeki thought. This case needs to be solved quickly.

***

Fai's sleep was disturbed by a flow of light that permeated his eyelids. He opened his eyes and stared at the far wall. Around his waist, Kurogane's dark arms were still holding onto him as they had been when they'd fallen asleep the night before. The memories of last night came rushing back to him and he protectively put his arms over Kurogane's.

The warrior felt this touch and opened his eyes. He gave Fai a small kiss to the back of his neck to let him know that he was awake. Fai turned to face him. They both couldn't believe how long they'd kept their feelings secret, letting them build up as they went from world to world.

"Good morning," Fai said in a small voice.

"Mornin'" he grumbled back as he sat up in bed. Fai sat up beside him and found that he had a dull ache in his back. Oh, sweet aftermath.

After they'd dressed and made the bed, they took a moment to stare at each other. What was there to say? Oh, what a nice morning. That simply wouldn't work. The silence ensued.

Fai shifted around nervously. "What do you think the others…?" Fai began hesitantly.

"Do they have to know?" Kurogane asked sharply.

Fai's eyes found Kurogane's and locked. "No. I suppose they don't. Not right now anyway." His famous grin returned to his face out of relief.

Kurogane walked over and pulled him into a kiss. "Just one more before we go," he mumbled afterwards.

"You're such a hopeless romantic."

"Shut up."

They walked out to the living room together and found Mokona sitting in the recliner watching them intently with a sly smile.

"Good morning, Mokona-chan!" Fai said cheerfully and patting the fur ball on the head. However, this didn't shift Mokona's gaze.

"What are you staring at, manju?" Kurogane growled.

"Oh, you know," Mokona said teasingly.

"Know what?" Kurogane grew uneasy.

"Mokona's not dumb. Mokona knows aaaaallllll about it. You and Fai, I mean. I didn't know Kurogane was so bold." Mokona was standing now, bouncing slightly.

"What are you--?"

"Kurogane and Fai, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Or should I say, Kurogane and Fai, laying in a bed,--"

"That's enough! Thank you!" Kurogane interrupted.

"How did you find this out, Mokona?" Fai asked, keeping his cool composure.

"Mokona sleeps in the living room! It's only one room away from your room. Mokona could hear you both loud and clear!" Mokona used one of its 108 techniques to imitate Fai's voice.

"Oh! Kurogane! More! More! Yes!"

Blood filled Fai's face. "Shhh! We don't want Sakura and Syaoran to know yet!" Fai hissed, holding Mokona close to his face.

"Mokona's lips are sealed!"

As if on cue, Syaoran and Sakura entered the room. "I hope it's not too late," Syaoran said after seeing that everyone was up and lively.

"It's fine. We just got up ourselves," Fai explained.

"Well, you certainly tired yourself out last—"

Fai quickly pinched both sides of Mokona's face and tugged at them. "Oh, Mokona! You're just _so cute!_ I just can't stand how _cute _you are!" Evil intent hid under Fai's smile.

Syaoran took no notice. "Are you hungry, princess? Oh! I mean, Sakura."

"Yes, a little."

"Then I guess it's time for breakfast. Fai, stop messing with Mokona and let's go downstairs."

"Fai's being a meanie today! I'm with Syaoran today!" The white creature hopped onto Syaoran's shoulder.

Sakura gasped. "Ah! Can you guys wait a second? Thanks!" She'd almost forgotten. She ran into her room and took the photo out of her pillowcase and slipped it into her pocket. She rushed back out. "Alright! Let's go!"

***

Tension filled the air as Watanuki and Doumeki waited for their shuttle. Both now felt the intensity of the task they'd been sent to accomplish. Fear was still broiling in Watanuki's gut from a few hours earlier.

The shuttle pulled up and the two were greeted by a Yamada smile. "Good morning," he said. "Please get on."

Doumeki climbed on without a word and Watanuki followed, watching the driver closely. The shuttle rumbled and began moving.

"So, how'd that "thing" you had to do go?" Watanuki asked.

"Oh, um… great. Yeah, just wonderful," the driver replied.

Watanuki narrowed his eyes. "You're not Kenji," he said bluntly.

"What? Of course I am. How can you say that when I've been driving you back and forth since Sunday?"

"_Kenji _has been driving us since _Saturday_. You're not him. Where's Kenji?"

The driver was silent.

"Well?" Watanuki pressed.

The driver sighed. "Look, Kenji was my friend too. It's not like I'm not upset about this as well."

"_Was _your friend? What happened?"

"Gone. Just like those two Tanaka's. He didn't even give warning signs like the others. Just up and went missing last night."

"I'm guessing Kikuchi told you to try and cover this up?" Watanuki's blood was boiling. This must have been what his dream was trying to tell him, he realized.

"Yeah. The old man's a mess. He's scared of losing business, you know?"

They stopped at the main building and the Yamada let them out with a solemn goodbye. Watanuki got out and kicked at the snow. "That goddamn old man! He just treats people like old toys! If I could get my hands on him right now…" He let the thought linger, letting the cold of the outside cool him down. Doumeki placed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get Kenji back."

Taking comfort from Doumeki's words, Watanuki led them inside where they spotted the others eating a small continental breakfast and drinking hot cocoa by the large fireplace. Watanuki was sad knowing that he would have to ruin the smiles he saw on their faces. (Well, except Kurogane.)

"Watanuki-kun! Why the long face?" Fai asked.

"Kenji's gone now too," Watanuki said without missing a beat.

"Who?"

"He's one of the Yamada's."

Fai looked into his hot cocoa. "Oh dear."

Sakura jumped up from her seat. "Watanuki! I have something to show you."

"What is it?" Watanuki asked, curious at her sudden outburst. She walked over quickly, fished out a photo from her pocket, and shoved it into his nose. He took the photo and studied it.

"What is this?" he asked.

"I got it from Kikuchi's room when I snuck in there. Look at the guy on the right."

Watanuki did so and raised his eyebrows. The boy on the left had cocoa skin and short dark hair. The one on the left was extremely fair-skinned with raven black hair slicked back and a stern look. And in the middle was a girl with long ebony hair and large gorgeous eyes.

"I wonder who they are…" Watanuki wondered aloud.

"The one on the right looks like your friend, Toa," Sakura pointed out.

"Wow, you're right. We should probably show this to him. He's probably at work right now, though. Maybe we should wait until his break." Watanuki continued to look over the photo. It looked considerably old. It was in color, so it couldn't be too old. He looked on the backside for a date, but it was blank. Another thing that clued him to the age of the photo was the clothes the three were wearing. They were all wearing kimonos, but not the kind that people wore to matsuris (festivals) on occasion. They were plainer, like they were worn often.

"Do you mind if I keep this until Toa's break, Sakura?" Watanuki asked.

"Of course. I got it for you."

Syaoran then asked, "When is Toa's break?"

Watanuki cocked his head to one side. "Around one, I think. It's still a little while away."

"Ooo! Then let's look at all the gift shops and stores!" Fai suggested.

"You don't have a serious bone in your body, do you?" Kurogane said.

"Well you would no all about my body, wouldn't you?" Fai whispered very quietly in his ear.

And Kurogane said no more.

"That sounds like fun!" Sakura said. Mokona jumped up and down in agreement. Doumeki looked to Watanuki for confirmation. However, his thoughts were elsewhere.

"Yeah, fun. Um, you guys can go ahead. I, uh, left something at the shack," he said, stumbling to find words.

"I'll go with you," Doumeki said immediately.

"No, no. I'm going to use the bathroom while I'm there too and I don't want you waiting around for me."

"It's fine. I'll still go."

"No! I have bad indigestion and I'll be in there a while. I promise that when I'm done and I get that thing I forgot, I'll come back here and find you guys, ok?" Watanuki was annoyed at having to use such an embarrassing lie, but it was the only way.

Doumeki finally gave in. "Ok. But come right back. No detours."

"Of course, of course." Watanuki waved his hand at Doumeki, letting him know it would be fine. Unfortunately, all it did was fan the flame of worry Doumeki felt.

***

Watanuki was still upset over Kenji's disappearance, so he decided that he would just walk back to the shack himself. It was warmer than usual, so it felt nice. He eventually reached it and instead of going inside walked right past it. It wasn't his goal for right now. He entered the cluster of trees that marked the end of the resort. He walked down the same steep decline as he had before, less afraid because it was daytime and because he'd made it a habit to carry the rabbit's foot everywhere with him and he'd also picked up a small package of salt from the building.

He could see much better than last time, so he covered more ground quickly. He jogged most of the way. He didn't want to take too long or the others would surely come looking for him and he only wanted to take a look.

After a while, he came upon a thick stick sticking straight out of the ground. Sloppily carved on the stick was the word 'barrier'. Syaoran and the others must have used this to mark where it is, Watanuki thought. He took a cautious step forward and slowly brought his hand up and forward. He felt his hand hit something solid and knew that he'd hit the barrier. The strange thing was, his hand didn't stop after it'd hit the barrier. His hand began sinking in and it felt like it was being enveloped in ice. Afraid but curious, he kept pushing until he was in up to his elbow. As he sunk in deeper, he felt something warm then bordering on hot on his thigh. The barrier was almost to his shoulder when a loud rustle took him by surprise. He jerked his arm out of the barrier and looked around. A squirrel scurried from one tree to another and Watanuki sighed with relief. No scary bears this time.

He looked up at the sun and breathed in sharply when he realized how much time had passed. Doumeki was probably ready to shit a chicken right about now.

"Crap!"

He took one last look at the barrier (or the area where the barrier was) and took off sprinting.

He would be back later.

***

And indeed, Doumeki was worried enough at that moment that he could have possibly shit some sort of farm animal. Where the hell was Watanuki? It'd almost been two whole hours. He'd figured Watanuki had walked to the shack, but there was no reason that he should be taking this long. Doumeki paced nervously throughout the shop. The others were enjoying themselves, however.

Fai plucked an ice skating dress off of one of the racks and held it up to Sakura. "I've never seen an outfit like this, but it would look so cute on you, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura gazed at the sparkles and took it into her hands. "It's so pretty."

Fai pulled a large one off the rack and held it up to himself. "How would this look, Kuro-tan?"

Instead of the expected retaliation, Kurogane said very quietly "Only if you wore it just for me."

Fai grinned like an excited school boy and put the dress back. "Sorry, but not today!" It was too bad they were keeping their relationship secret. He would have really liked to hug Kurogane right then.

"Found you!"

The others turned to see Watanuki run into the store. He bent over to catch his breath, his face red and sweating from running.

"Where have you been?" He spoke quietly, but Doumeki's voice could have rumbled the earth's core at that moment.

"Sorry. I spent forever looking through different stores to find you guys and ended up getting distracted in each store," he quickly lied.

Doumeki looked at him skeptically, but accepted the excuse. Watanuki changed the subject.

"It's about time for Toa's break, so why don't we go find him?"

***

Toa looked anxiously at his watch. Ever since Kenji hadn't shown up to talk to him last night, Toa had been worried. He'd thought that maybe Kenji had forgotten and went by his room later that night to see, but he wasn't there then either. He asked around that morning, but no one had seen him since yesterday. What had he wanted to talk about? And more importantly, where had he gone?

He forced cheerfulness as he taught two little kids, a brother and a sister, how to ski down one of the kiddy hills. The minute his break started, he threw off his skiing gear and headed to the main building. If Kenji was anywhere, he would be at work at the French café. Either that or his co-workers would know where he was.

When he didn't see Kenji attending to any tables, he disregarded the rules and stuck his head in the kitchen.

"Yoshi!" he called to the first Yamada he could recognize.

Yoshi looked at him from the across the kitchen and put down the crêpe he was fixing. "What is it, Toa?" he asked as he wiped his hands off with a towel.

"Is Kenji here?"

Yoshi stared at him like a frightened animal and looked at the ground. "No."

"Where is he? Is he sick?"

Yoshi shook his head. "I don't know where he is. No one does."

"What? What are you saying?" Toa moved closer, intimidating Yoshi into spilling more information.

"You remember what happened to those two Tanaka's? Well, same thing. One employee said they saw him wondering around outside last night. When they called to him, he didn't answer. Almost like he was under a spell. Kikuchi's told us to keep quiet about it and keep on working like normal. If he hears me talking about it, we'll both be in big trouble, so this is all I can say. I gotta get back to work. Sorry, Toa." He returned to his crêpe.

Toa remembered what had happened with the Tanaka's. Kikuchi declared them dead without any proof. He couldn't let that happen. Kenji had only just gone missing, so it would be a while before the police got involved. He had time. He needed to find Watanuki.

***

Toa and the others found each other in the restaurant area of the main building. Both Watanuki and Toa were so frantic that they both talked in a jumble to each other at the same time.

"Ugh, you first," Toa said.

"I have something to show you. I think it might help if you look at it. Now, what did you want to say?"

"Kenji. He's gone missing."

"I know. I found out this morning from another Yamada. I really need you to look at this picture. It could possibly lead us to Kenji." Watanuki was practically dancing from all of his nervous shifting. Toa slowed his brain down and tried to be rational.

"Ok. Let me see."

Watanuki handed him the photo from his pocket and waited for Toa's reaction. His eyes moved across the photo and he opened his mouth but remained silent for a moment.

"This guy. He looks a lot like the pictures I've seen of my grandfather when he was young. As for the other two, I have no clue. The one on the right's definetly got that Waka family look. He's got the Hawaiian skin and the Japanese eyes." Toa thought, could this be Kailani Waka?

He didn't have time to think on it because of Mokona's interrupting screech.

"Sakura's sick!"

Everyone had been watching Toa so intently that they hadn't noticed when the princess fell to the floor. Syaoran was immediately at her side. He felt her burning forehead and propped her up.

"Princess! Princess, wake up!"

Sakura opened her eyes, but they looked glazed over. "I don't feel good," she croaked.

"It'll be ok, Sakura. Quick, where are the doctors in this place?" Syaoran asked frantically.

Fai looked at him with a grim expression. "No doctor is going to be able to help. It's been a long time since we've last found a feather. She's becoming weak again. The most we can do is let her rest and get to this feather as quickly as possible."

Syaoran looked up at him like a helpless puppy. "I guess you're right. Let's bring her up to the room."

After they'd put the girl to bed, Toa was pacing back and forth the living room of the suite.

"I can't let Kenji fade away into yesterday's news like those two girls. I won't let it happen. We have to do something. What can we do, Kimihiro? You've been investigating, haven't you? There must be something we can do." Toa's voice was shaky as an earthquake.

Watanuki thought about his encounter with the barrier earlier that day. He couldn't tell anyone just yet. Feeling extremely guilty he said, "I don't know, Toa."

Doumeki recognized the expression on Toa's face. He had often felt the exact same way whenever Watanuki got into trouble. He immediately felt sympathy for the Hawaiian.

Toa's watch beeped. His break was going to end soon.

"You should probably get back to work," Watanuki said.

"Screw work! My best friend's gone missing!" Toa was almost hysterical.

"Toa, please calm down. If we find out anything, we'll tell you right away. Just try to relax and return to work. It's no good if you're fired," Watanuki said assertively.

Toa reluctantly did as told and left.

Inside Sakura's and Syaoran's bedroom, Syaoran was nervously holding the hand of the sleeping princess. His irrational side was starting to leak out and he was hanging by a thread trying not to rush off and find that feather. Fai came in and put another cold towel on her head. After looking at Syaoran's expression, he sat beside the boy and gave him a warm look.

"I'm certain she'll be awake soon. This has happened before, remember? When I first met you two, she wouldn't wake for the longest time. She has a good amount of feathers right now, so this should blow over. Promise me you won't fret too much, okay?"

Syaoran turned to look at the wizard. "Thanks Fai. I don't know what this group would do without you."

"Of course! I'm the mother of you two children and Kurogane the grumpy goose is your father. It's his job to fend for us and mine to provide moral support. I understand the emotions you're going through right now. Love is a complicated thing." Fai beamed at the sleeping princess, thinking how lucky she was to have Syaoran and vice versa. "I'll leave you alone now. I'll come back in a little while to check on Sakura-chan." He got up to leave.

Something belatedly clicked in Syaoran's head. "Wait. Fai, did you call Kurogane by his full name just now?" He turned to see that Fai had already left the room. He left the thought hanging.

Fai was met almost immediately by Kurogane when he walked out of the room. Mokona was snoozing on the couch and Watanuki and Doumeki were in the kitchen, so Kurogane took this chance to land a kiss on the cheek of the wizard.

"Don't wear such a sad expression. It doesn't suit you," Kurogane said.

"How can I stay sad when you're around?" Fai replied, taking Kurogane's hands in his own, stretching his lips into a wide grin.

Despite the comforting words, both were uneasy about what could possibly happen next.

***

Watanuki and Doumeki stayed until the princess awoke. She didn't stay awake long, however, saying that she was extremely tired and couldn't keep her eyes open. After they'd made sure she was okay and peacefully sleeping, they left the others to watch over her. They'd stayed much longer than they'd thought and the sun was already beginning to set.

The first thing the Yamada said when their shuttle arrived was, "I'm sorry."

Watanuki stared at him. "For what?"

"I'm sorry I lied. I heard that you guys were sent here to get rid of the spirits. Do you think you can save Kenji?"

Watanuki stared out the window, not knowing how to reply. Doumeki replied for him.

"Yes."

Watanuki gave him a surprised look followed by a "do you know what you're saying?" look. Doumeki replied with an "I know what I'm doing" look.

"We'll find him and bring him back. The other two as well."

The driver loosened up a bit. "I hope so. If you did, you guys would be life-savers."

The strange events that followed started with the door to the shack. Watanuki pulled it open and jumped back as its hinges crumbled and it fell forward. "M-must be really old," Watanuki said, shaking. That door could have killed him.

Since they'd decided to return straight to the shack, Watanuki made dinner himself using the excuse for a kitchen they had. His eyebrows twitched as he noticed for the first time that a few of the pots and pans had things like hearts and "I love you!" engraved on them. This was a honeymoon suite after all.

As he sat at the table with Doumeki, the fear arose in him that the other boy was going to ask where he'd really been earlier. But after seeing the exhaustion on Doumeki's face, he grew calm. After a meal, he'd be out like a light.

In the middle of eating, Watanuki felt something hit his leg. And then again after a few seconds.

"Hey. Stop kicking my leg," Watanuki snapped.

"I haven't kicked your leg."

Watanuki felt it again. "Yes you did. I felt it again just now."

"I didn't kick your leg."

"Yes you did!"

"I'm telling you, my legs are all the way over here."

"Oh? Than what could have done it? A gho—" Watanuki stopped himself. He was smart enough to know that it could very well be another ghost bothering him.

Doumeki silently played with his food for a few minutes before Watanuki took notice.

"You've never denied any food I've made before. Something wrong? You feeling alright?" Watanuki couldn't believe that the food on his plate wasn't already gone and he wasn't asking for seconds. The contempt and ill-will that he felt towards Doumeki had seemed to have disappeared and now he was genuinely worried.

Doumeki set down his chopsticks and looked at Watanuki. He looked like he'd aged a good number of years. "I have to tell you something."

"You don't look too hot. You want to go to sleep? You don't have to eat if you're not hungry." Watanuki took his plate and set it by the sink. He walked back over and felt Doumeki's forehead. "You're not sick, thankfully. I think you're just tired."

"No." Doumeki took Watanuki's wrist and pulled is hand off of his forehead. "I'm fine. I really need to tell you something."

"Tell me what? Is your stomach upset?"

Doumeki stood up. "No. Nothing like that. Would you just listen? Your mouth is always running off."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to run my mouth if you weren't so damn quiet all the time!"

"Maybe I'm quiet because I'm afraid your head will explode if you don't say something every five seconds."

"If you're going to be cranky, then just go to sleep!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to talk to you!"

Watanuki was speechless. He didn't think Doumeki had ever yelled in his life. Not even when they'd been in tight life-or-death crunches in the past. Watanuki pressed his lips shut and went silent.

"Watanuki, I…" He couldn't find the words. He knew they would sound funny and discordant coming out of his mouth. Not to mention it definetly wasn't the right atmosphere. He thought about letting it drop, but he'd already gotten this far. He nervously smoothed back his hair with his hand. After a few seconds of contemplation, he sighed. Words aren't going to work, he thought. Instead, he grabbed Watanuki's shoulders and kissed him intensely. It'd been the one thing he'd been longing to do for months and all his feelings came out in a rush. He forced himself to pull away before he betrayed himself. After seeing Watanuki's surprised and incomprehensible expression, he managed to utter out, "I… I'm in love with you. I have been for a while."

"But… we're both guys," Watanuki said in almost a whisper.

"Male love is not unheard of. Besides, I don't care what gender you are. All that I know is that I love you."

"I think you're just confused. You don't have many friends at school. Maybe if you broadened your horizon—"

"No. I. Love. You. Just you. Only you."

"Ah! Stop saying love! It's… embarrassing." Watanuki turned his burning red face towards the ground. Nobody had ever confessed to him before. His heart was thundering in his chest like a jackhammer. Was that a good thing?

Doumeki's eyes narrowed. "You're not taking me seriously, are you?"

Before Watanuki could reply, his mouth was once again taken captive by Doumeki's lips. His hands traveled from Watanuki's shoulders to his back. Watanuki was extremely rigid, but eventually went limp. He'd imagined kissing Himawari about a million times, but he'd never imagined that kissing would be like this. Doumeki took Watanuki's lack of resistance as a good sign and brought his mouth down to Watanuki's neck.

"No, Doumeki," Watanuki managed to gasp out. His knees were wobbly and his vision almost blurry. Where had Doumeki learned to kiss like that?

The taller boy pulled away. "I'm sorry. But, will you give me a chance? You don't have to decide right now, but please just give me one chance. I won't ask for anything more."

Watanuki's mind raced. His first thought was to reject him and get it over with. However as he formed the words in his mind, he found that he didn't want to just yet. He didn't want to reply at all just yet. "I'll consider it if you go to sleep. I think I need the night to let this all settle in." Mostly, Watanuki just wanted a way out of the awkward moment. Driven by both Watanuki's promise and fatigue, Doumeki took little time getting into bed and falling asleep.

"I'll be there in a second. I'm just going to blow out the candles," Watanuki told Doumeki. He didn't reply, most likely embarrassed of what he'd just done. With a shaky stream of air, Watanuki puffed out the candles. He'd just turned toward the futon when they flickered on again. Watanuki turned back around and blew them out again, but they just sparked back to life.

"What are these, trick candles?" Watanuki muttered to himself. He tried a few more times to no avail. Irritated, he blew them out furiously and then licked his finger and wiped it on all the wicks. The candles remained extinguished this time. Something didn't want Watanuki to go to sleep just yet.

He felt a burning on his thigh, just as he had earlier when he'd visited the barrier. His hand went to the spot and he realized that it was the pocket where he'd been keeping the photo. He slipped it out of his pocket and looked at it. Or what he could see of it in the dark.

-Come back-

The voice in his mind took him by surprise.

-Come back to the barrier-

Don't get scared now, Watanuki thought. This is your chance to get to the bottom of this thing. Not to mention the distraction it would provide from his current Doumeki dilemma. After making sure that Doumeki had really fallen asleep, he grabbed a sack. He threw a couple snacks inside and a water bottle. He made sure that the lucky rabbit's foot was in there and decided to throw in the doorknob at the last minute just for good measure. He grabbed a flashlight and headed out. He was glad the door had fallen over earlier so that he could escape silently.

He took the path slower this time, wanting to stay in the safe confines of the glow from the flashlight. There wasn't a single sound all around him. It seemed that the animals had cleared the way for him tonight. He gulped away his tension.

He reached the stick marker once again and without hesitating pressed his hand against the barrier. He went through easily this time and ended up falling into the other side and getting a face full of snow.

"Little too much push there," he said as he brushed himself off.

He found himself face to face with the pond. It did indeed have the same shimmer as a pond in the summer and wasn't frozen in the least. He walked over and knelt by the water. He stared at his reflection, too afraid to touch the water. When he thought he saw movement, he leaned his face closer and squinted into its depths.

In an instant, a pair of invisible arms reached up and yanked Watanuki into the water. He'd expected the water to be icy cold, but it was a pleasantly cool temperature. He was dragged further and further down and had been panicking until he opened his mouth. He could breathe in this water. He opened his eyes and found that the water didn't sting. The yanking stopped and he floated around a bit. What exactly was this pond? He looked around but could see nothing but water. He ventured deeper, hoping to find something at the bottom. On the way, he saw a small speck of light and swam towards it.

When he'd gotten close to the light, it grew to a huge size in less than a second and rushed at Watanuki. There was no time for him to get away and the next thing he knew he was tumbling into another time where he would finally see the truth.


	7. Dive into the Past

**Poison:** Phew. Another chapter completed. This chapter is almost entirely about the mystery, so I'm sorry for the minimal character interaction. However, this story is a mystery and mysteries need to be explained. Just a couple notes: Hajimemashite means 'how do you do?' and yoroshiku onegaishimasu literally means 'please treat me well,' but just think of as something like 'it's a pleasure to meet you. A lot of you probably already know this, but I wanted to clarify that just in case for when they're used in this chapter. I can't believe that this story's come so far! It seemed like only yesterday that I was planning out the first chapter. Please enjoy and look forward to next Wednesday's chapter!

After the world around Watanuki had disappeared, he closed his eyes. The light that had absorbed him burned his retinas. At first it was warm, but grew increasingly hot because of his heavy winter clothes. How long was he going to stay here?

He was never sure exactly how long it was that he floated within the light, but eventually he reopened his eyes to find himself lying in grass. Upwards, he saw the dizzying sight of numerous evergreens and a painfully blue sky. Where was he?

He sat up and looked around. Behind him was the pond, the same as it had looked when he'd been pulled in. Only now, it looked natural because there wasn't snow anywhere and green filled his surroundings. Sweating, he pulled off his clothing until he was just in his pants and long-sleeved shirt. He put his pack back on and began wondering what he should do. He'd obviously been transported somewhere, but where? Okay, the pond was right there, so he must still be at the resort. But it was summer here. Had he gone through time?

He heard approaching footsteps. At first he panicked, but then grew hopeful. He could ask whoever was approaching where exactly he was. Or when, for that matter. What he saw astounded him. Approaching him was the beautiful girl he'd seen in the old photograph. So this is the past, he thought.

"Um, excuse me," Watanuki began, holding up his hand.

She didn't even glance at him and walked right past him and to the pond. She kneeled at the bank and slid something in with her hand. Most likely food for the fishes that could now be seen swimming in the water.

"Ma'am?" Watanuki reached to put a hand on her shoulder, but his hand went straight through and she continued what she was doing. Watanuki inspected his hand. "Is it just my soul that was transported here?" he asked himself. Somehow he knew that had to be it. Even if it was only his soul, he could still feel the summer heat. Then why was his pack with him? He thought he'd heard Yuko say something about souls carrying over important objects with them into different worlds and times. He checked the inside of his pack and found that his flashlight, food, and water were all gone. All that remained was the lucky rabbit's foot and the doorknob. He failed to see how these were more important to him that light, food, and water, but tossed the thought aside and continued to observe the girl.

A few moments later, another set of footsteps made their way over to the clearing. The young man who had been on the left side of the picture appeared. Watanuki met his piercing gaze and was sure he'd seen it somewhere before.

"Konako," the man spoke, "you know you're not supposed to wander off."

She stood and faced him. "I always come here, so it's not really wandering off."

"Still, everyone likes to know where you are. It would be disastrous if something happened to the daughter of a Tsukiyomi."

Konako Tsukiyomi. That was one of the names Toa had mentioned. Watanuki watched the two intently.

"Anyway," the man continued, "I came to retrieve you. My parents want us to meet someone. He just came from overseas."

"Overseas? What country?"

"America, I'm told."

"You're kidding! This soon after the war?"

"That's what I said. Regardless, he's still half-Japanese and we've been told to treat him graciously. His family is one that branched off of mine a long time ago, my father said."

"Well, what are we standing around here for? Let's go meet him To-kun."

"I told you to call me Toshiro. To-kun is unbecoming."

Suddenly Watanuki remembered where he'd seen those piercing eyes before. Standing before him was the Toshiro Kikuchi of old. He couldn't believe that this calm and very handsome young man had turned into such an old monster.

He quickly followed after the two. As he thought, they led him right back up to the spot where his and Doumeki's shack was located. However, instead of a rickety nightmare, a quaint little cabin stood there. It was painted white and baby blue and was adorned with lacy curtains where there were windows. Was this actually the same shack he and Doumeki had been staying in? It had to be. He took a quick peak inside and saw the same table on the inside with two chairs and fine china set on the table for what looked like tea time. The tight-wads at the resort must've kept the old thing to pass it off for a ridiculous kind of honeymoon suite, Watanuki thought. He pulled his face away and jogged to catch up to Konako and Kikuchi.

They reached the main building and stepped inside. Watanuki was surprised at how much smaller the resort was. There weren't nearly as many buildings and all the technology was replaced with more primitive inventions. There was no giant fireplace against the far wall and the entire building had a rich Japanese theme to it. He followed them over to an older couple and another young man. The way Kikuchi immediately bowed and said hello to the man let him know that the two had to be his parents.

"Toshiro," his father boomed in a commanding voice, "this is your cousin. He just got here from Hawaii. He's had a long journey, so why don't you show him to his room? When he feels up to it, give him a tour."

Kikuchi nodded. "Yes father. But why—"

"Don't ask questions. Just do as I say."

Kikuchi nodded once more. His mother gave him an apologetic look before the two walked off.

"What a strict father. This is definetly Japan, alright," the young man said.

He had the same skin as Toa and the same silky black hair. However, he wore his hair short with swept-up bangs that exposed his forehead. A gold earring dangled from his right ear and Watanuki recognized him as the man on the right of the old photo. There were other things that set him apart from Toa as well. His eyes had a mixture of green amongst the dark coffee color and he had dark Hawaiian lips. His accent had a song-song ring to it that had to be from growing up with English and Hawaiian. He definetly had more pacific islander in him than Watanuki's friend.

Toshiro went into a deep bow. "_Hajimemashite._ My name is Toshiro Kikuchi. _Yoroshiku onegaishimasu._ This here is Konako Tsukiyomi."

Konako bowed as well. "_Yoroshiku onegaishimu._"

The Hawaiian bowed awkwardly, obviously not accustomed to it and regurgitated the same greeting. "I'm Kailani Waka."

"Kairani?" Konako asked.

"No, KaiLani. That sound is said like this." He touched his tongue to the top of his mouth and pushed out a long L sound.

"Kailani, Kailani…" Konako practiced a few times. "What a funny name."

"It's Hawaiian. It means the sea and the sky."

"How pretty. My name doesn't really mean anything. It's written in hiragana. But, Tsukiyomi uses the kanji for "moon" and "read" to mean "moon-reader". Like an astronomer I guess."

"That's interesting! Waka uses the kanji for "ring" and "fire" to mean something like a ring of fire or volcanoes. What about you, Kikuchi-san?"

Kikuchi huffed. "I don't care to carry on this conversation. Let's just go up to your room."

"Oh Toshiro! Be nice! He's really not so bad once you get to know him, honest. He's just a bit awkward and shy around new people," Konako assured Kailani.

"It's fine. I completely understand. I'm just going to have to get used to Japanese customs." His smile sent a slight blush crawling across Konako's face.

"Why exactly were you sent here?" Toshiro blurted out, the question burning inside him.

The question caught Kailani by surprise. "Why? Well, there's still a lot of discrimination against people with Japanese blood over in America right now, especially in Hawaii. My parents wanted better for me, so they sent me here. I'll probably return once most of the prejudice blows over."

"Don't you think there's just as much prejudice against Americans here right now?" Kikuchi asked with a narrow look.

"Yeah, but I don't exactly fit the stereotypical image of American that most Japanese have in their minds. Besides, it's pretty isolated here in the mountains. Better than getting my house written all over and stones thrown at me like back at home."

Konako's hand flew to her mouth. "You poor thing. I can't even imagine what that's like."

Kikuchi scowled when he saw the concerned look Konako had on her face for Kailani. "You're probably tired. I'll take you to your room where you can sleep." He started walking off without a word. Kailani quickly followed, turning and waving to Konako as he did.

"Nice meeting you, Tsukiyomi-san."

"Please call me Konako," she called back, returning the wave.

A rush of air pushed Watanuki from behind and he felt himself go spiraling again. This time, it ended in an instant and his surroundings had once again changed. He immediately recognized the interior of the cabin even though it was so different in this time period. Sitting at the table was the same three he'd just been watching. Konako and Toshiro sat in the chairs while Kailani was sitting on a box he'd pulled up.

"Man, mahjong is hard!" Kailani said, exasperated at another loss to Toshiro. "Why don't I teach you a Western card game instead?"

"Sounds fun!" Konako's smile lit up her dramatically beautiful face. "Do you have cards for it?"

"Yeah, I carry some around in case I get bored." He pulled a deck of cards out of his internal kimono pocket and set them on the table.

"What do you say, Toshiro?" Kailani said with a competitive edge and the same crooked smile that Toa was famous for.

Toshiro returned his request with a smile of his own. "Of course. Just teach me and I'll beat you at this one too."

"Keep dreaming! Card games are my specialty. Since we're all adults here, I'll teach you both how to play poker."

"I don't remember you being twenty yet, Kailani," Toshiro said with a sneer. (AN: In Japan, you are considered an adult when you turn twenty.)

"Details, details. Just be quiet and listen so we can play!"

Kailani won the first few games, but soon Toshiro caught on and his excellent poker face grabbed him some wins.

"I told you I'd beat you," Kikuchi said.

"Ah, I let you win," Kailani shot back.

Konako giggled. "You two have become such good friends! It's so amusing to watch you both."

"Yeah, but it's more fun to watch me because I'm more handsome, right?" Kailani joked.

Konako only laughed more. Toshiro rolled his eyes. Konako stopped laughing abruptly as an idea entered her head.

"We have to stay friends forever!" she suddenly exclaimed with a serious look on her face.

"'Course we will, Konako-chan," Kailani said, gathering up the cards.

"But we have to make it official! Here, both of you take one of my hands and take each others' hands."

"You want me to hold a guy's hand?" Kailani stuck out his tongue.

"Just do it!"

Toshiro and Kailani found it hard to ever say no to Konako and did as she asked. After the three were holding hands, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Friends forever," she said simply and let go.

"That's it! Man, you had me thinking you were gonna say some sort of magic spell or something," Kailani chuckled.

"The best things in life are simple," Toshiro said to Kailani's retort.

Kailani snorted. "There goes your Confucius way of thinking again."

"Confucianism is Chinese, moron."

"Whatever! Your Far East philosophy and stuff."

"You're Japanese too, you know. Well what about Hawaiians then?"

"Live simply and live well!"

"I think that's more American than Hawaiian."

"Either way, it works!"

Watanuki put his hand to his chest. This atmosphere was so… unusually warm. He was filled with unknown happiness and calm. It brought him back to his own friends; sitting beneath trees at lunch and eating bentos. As he reflected on this, he was once again swept off his feet and into a different moment in time. He'd realized by now that these were the spirits' memories, namely Kailani's and Konako's memories. Was there a point to him seeing all of these memories?

The sound of laughter entered his ears once more and he found that he was standing in front of a mass of trees somewhere on the resort. The three were sitting on a bench: Toshiro on the left, Kailani on the right, and Konako in the middle.

"Geez, what now?" Kailani asked.

"Now that we've sworn our friendship, we need to document it. We'll take this picture and we'll each keep a copy," Konako explained. "This is one of my uncles. He's a photographer. I asked him to do this for us."

"Are you all almost ready?" her uncle called from where he was setting up his camera.

"Almost! Just a minute, Jii-san!" She clapped her hands together. "This is going to be wonderful!"

"Eh. I won't mind having a black and white print to stick up on my wall of you guys," Kailani said.

"Oh, no. This picture's going to be in color," Konako said.

"Sounds expensive," Kailani replied.

"You forget that the Tsukiyomi family is very wealthy, as are yours and mine," Toshiro pointed out.

Kailani rubbed the back of his head. "Right! I wasn't really raised like a rich kid so I always forget!"

Konako interrupted them. "Quiet! My Jii-san's ready! Make sure to smile. And that means you, Toshiro!" She pulled the three of them together and there was a flash and a loud pop as the camera went off. The light from the camera lingered and evolved into a giant mass that swallowed Watanuki whole.

When the light disappeared, he felt a change in atmosphere. There was a heaviness to this new memory and it made Watanuki afraid to breathe. His eyes darted back and forth, searching for whatever was causing his unease. What he saw calmed him a little. Kailani was kneeling by an array of flowers, humming and observing the different types and colors. Occasionally he'd bring one up to his face and smell it.

"Konako would love these. I wonder if she's seen them. Not that they can compare to her beauty," Kailani contemplated as he talked quietly to himself. There was a fondness in his eyes.

Watanuki was startled when he saw Kikuchi coming straight at him and even moved quickly out of the way before he remembered that no one could see or feel him anyway.

"Kailani. Hey, Kailani."

The Hawaiian looked up from the flowers. "Oi, Haukea, what's up?"

"Would you stop calling me that weird Hawaiian name?"

"Why? It's perfect. It means snow white and I've never seen anyone with skin quite as white as yours. Besides, aren't you the future heir to this snowy resort?"

"That's beside the point. It sounds feminine and I'd prefer to be called by my actual name."

"Aw, don't tell me you don't like Hawaiians!"

Toshiro didn't reply to his question. "My father wants to talk to you. He wouldn't tell me why, but he and your father have been speaking about something."

Kailani stood up. "You don't think he wants me to return, do you?" His tone of voice had changed entirely.

"I don't know. My father wouldn't tell me anything." Toshiro was obviously annoyed at this fact. "Let's hope not."

"You do care, Toshiro!"

Toshiro turned his head away quickly. "Tch. Just shut up and go to my father already. He's waiting."

Kailani grinned. "Sure thing, Haukea."

"It's Toshiro!" Kikuchi called to him as he ran off to the main building. After the Hawaiian was well ahead, Toshiro began following after him.

Watanuki half expected to be taken away again, but when his feet remained planted on the ground, he took off after the two.

In the main building, where there were a mess of restaurants and eating areas in the present, there was a maze of hallways in this time. Kailani took off down one and Toshiro followed a safe distance behind to avoid being seen. It seemed that sneaking around was a skill he'd carried with him from a young age. Watanuki simply walked beside him, relieved that he didn't have to sneak around himself. Kailani entered a room that had to be Kikuchi's father's office and Toshiro wasted no time pressing his ear up against the door. Instead of doing the same, Watanuki stuck his head through the wall so that he could hear better and be near Toshiro at the same time. Kailani was standing stiffly before the old man, waiting to be spoken to.

"I've been speaking with your father recently, Kailani," the old man said in a gruff voice. Kailani nodded and Kikuchi continued. "We've been speaking about a lot of things, but one thing we've been speaking a lot about is you."

At this, Kailani lifted his head and looked upon Kikuchi with curious eyes. "Me, sir?"

"Yes. You and plans for your future. This may seem a bit sudden, but how would you like to become heir to the Kikuchi resort?"

Watanuki pulled his head out and looked over at Toshiro. His handsome face was scrunched in a snarl. Frightened, Watanuki stuck his head back in the wall.

Kailani's jaw had dropped. "Me? The heir? But, Toshiro is…"

"Don't get me wrong, Toshiro's a good boy. He's extremely smart and will make a wonderful businessman one day. However, you have something that he doesn't. Do you know what that is?"

Kailani gulped. "N-no, sir."

"You've got the right blood and connections. Your family is based in America, so we could build other Kikuchi lodges in the mountainous parts of America. We could make a fortune off of that."

"But couldn't I just work under Toshiro and get him those connections?"

"No, it's not that simple. Americans are still weary of us Japanese because of the war. You've got American blood, so they'd more easily go with it if you were in charge."

"Heading this place is Toshiro's dream, sir. He's been training his entire life for it," Kailani argued.

"Yes, and he'll do an excellent job working under you. You don't need to worry about this separating you two. I'll make sure he works closely with you. Keep in mind that this was also one of _your_ father's suggestions as well. It's what he wants you to do." Kikuchi put emphasis on that last statement, knowing that the Japanese in Kailani wouldn't allow him to go against his father's wishes.

On the other side of the door, Toshiro was whispering to himself, "Come on, Kailani. Refuse. If you're really my friend, you'll refuse."

Kailani went into a deep bow. "Yes. Whatever you say, sir."

Toshiro's face changed from anxious to furious in an instant. He yanked his ear away from the door and stormed off. He got away just before Kailani came back out. Watanuki was about to chase after Toshiro when he was swept away again to a new memory.

This time it was night time and he was standing on a high balcony. He was startled at how close he found himself standing next to Kailani. Of course, the Hawaiian could not see him and was instead staring off into the starry sky.

He wasn't alone for long. A shadow fell over the balcony as a figure appeared in the doorway.

"Kailani?" a soft voice asked.

Kailani turned to see Konako standing there. "Konako? What are you doing here at this time?"

She placed her hand on her arm nervously and looked at the ground. "I knocked, but you didn't answer, so I just let myself in. I hope that's okay. I wanted to talk to you."

"Of course it's okay. What's up?"

"Well…" she started. "Toshiro seems really upset about something. I've only seen him once in the past week and he refused to even look at me. Did something happen?"

Kailani turned back to the sky. Pain filled his face and his heart. "Sort of."

Konako stood beside him at the balcony and stared at the stars with him. "Is it alright if you tell me?"

"You know I can't keep anything from you. His father, and my father too actually, want me to become the successor to this place instead of Toshiro."

Konako gave him a puzzled look. "Why on earth would they want that?"

Kailani shook his head. "Some stupid thing about my connections with America and whatnot. I don't want to, but I can't go against my father. I wish Toshiro would understand that. I still care about him, and he's still my friend. The last thing I want to do is hurt him. But I guess I've already pretty much stabbed him in the back and shot him in the heart."

Konako placed her hand on Kailani's. "Well, there's one good thing that could become of this," she whispered.

"What could that possibly be?"

"If you're the successor, my family will definetly approve if we get married."

Kailani looked at her with wide eyes. "You think so?"

She nodded. "That is, if you want to get married."

"Of course!" He took both of her hands. "Why wouldn't I want to marry the one I love, my Kalei?"

"Kalei?"

"It literally means a wreath of flowers, but we also use it to mean 'beloved one' in Hawaii."

Konako's face burned from an intense blush. Kailani smiled at her expression and turned to the sky once more. "There's a full moon tonight. I was watching it just now and thinking about you."

"Because of my last name?" she asked.

"Yeah, but also because it's beautiful, just like you."

"If you say anything else like that, I might just have to go back to my room out of embarrassment."

Kailani leaned over and kissed her sweetly and Watanuki looked away, embarrassed. When did this memory get so lovey-dovey? Not to mention the kiss brought images rushing back of what Doumeki had done to him earlier. The archer's face popped into his head and he heard him saying, "Watanuki, my Kalei." He shook his head furiously. Why was he thinking of something like that?! Never gonna happen, he told himself. Nothing that sentimental could ever come out of that ape. He distracted himself with watching the two. "You should be heading back anyway, my Kalei. It's late and heaven forbid what would happen if someone found you missing from your room."

She gave him one last hug. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She turned and began heading out the door. At the last second, she turned around. "Kailani. I've decided that I'm going to tell everyone tomorrow. I'm going to tell them all that I love you and that I want to marry you."

Kailani smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

She smiled back and rushed out of the room.

Watanuki could predict when he would be moved by now and stood up straight and waited as he was carried into another memory. He tried to collect his thoughts and follow all that he'd seen. Okay. Kailani and Toshiro were distant cousins and Kailani moved to the resort. But now Kikuchi Sr. wanted Kailani as the heir. Toshiro doesn't like this. And now Konako and Kailani are in love? So confusing. It was like watching a soap opera on TV.

Before he even entered the next memory, he could hear the sound of Konako screaming. When the light left and cleared Watanuki's vision, he was startled to see her pulling on Toshiro's arm.

"Please don't, Toshiro! Don't do this!"

Toshiro tried to pull his arm free, but Konako held on tight. "Let me go! I'm going to kill him!"

"This is ridiculous, Toshiro! Take a moment to clear your head!" Konako continued to shout.

Toshiro finally yanked hard enough and set his arm free. He didn't waste a second sprinting off before Konako could catch him and hold him down again. Watanuki immediately sprinted after him. Kikuchi had been raised as a rich boy, so Watanuki didn't have any trouble keeping up. Konako soon fell far behind. Female kimonos were much less ideal for running in than male ones. Watanuki found himself once again venturing down the path that led to the pond.

They got there very quickly and Watanuki figured that it had to do with the fact that these were Konako's and Kailani's memories. So once Konako had lost sight of Toshiro, he'd plunged right into Kailani's corresponding memory. The Hawaiian was splashing some of the cold water from the pond onto his face, most likely trying to cool off from the summer heat.

"Kailani!" Toshiro's voice boomed with the same intensity his father had and a flock of birds shot from the trees and into the sky.

Kailani spun around in alarm. "Toshiro? What's the matter with you?"

"Don't give me your shit! You know perfectly well why I'm pissed!" Kikuchi's white skin was steadily becoming redder and redder from anger.

Kailani hung his head guiltily and said nothing.

"It's almost like _you're _my father's son and not me! He hardly takes notice of me anymore ever since he decided to make you heir."

"What are you saying? Your father loves you. He's always telling me what a smart boy you are and how proud he is of you. That's why he wants you to be the vice president."

"That doesn't matter. _You're _the one who's going to carry on his legacy. I'm just convenient to him. And that's not all. You've taken Konako from me too!"

"You never told me you had feelings for her!"

"She was sent here to marry the next heir of the Kikuchi business, which was originally me! I thought you knew that and I thought that it was obvious that I cared for her."

At that moment, Konako came rushing into the clearing and stopped abruptly when she saw the two young men shouting at each other.

"Well you know what Toshiro? She fell in love with me! She only thinks of you as a dear friend and would have been miserable marrying you."

Toshiro turned to Konako, his expression switching from rage to pain. "Is this true, Konako?"

"I…" She looked from Toshiro to Kailani and back again. "That doesn't matter. You two are friends. Please stop fighting!"

"Friends? This guy's nothing but a back-stabber!" He turned back to Kailani. "I trusted you! I even thought that you could possibly be my _best _friend…" His voice trailed off and he glared at the ground.

"You're not going to cry, are you?" Kailani said irritably.

"Sh-shut up," Toshiro croaked as one pesky tear escaped his eye. What did it matter? There was nothing left for him to lose at this point.

Kailani switched over from anger to concern. "Toshiro? Are you really crying? I… I didn't even think that much about your feelings. I feel so awful now! You were so nice to me, even though I was just a foreigner intruding on your life and here I am ruining things for you. Konako's right; we're friends. This needs to stop. What do you say?"

Toshiro pulled his head back up with a hopeful look on his face. "Do you… really mean it?"

Kailani nodded. "Yes. Look at the bright side. You'll make a wonderful vice president and we'll make the best business team that Japan—no, that the world has ever seen. And you're such a good-looking guy that girls will be lining up at your door to marry you! Come on, Haukea. Truce?" Kailani held out his hand. Konako sighed in relief and smiled.

Toshiro slowly began raising his hand up, but snatched it back quickly. "N-no!"

"Toshiro, come on. I don't want to fight with my best friend anymore."

"No! You're a liar! My entire life I've always been told what to do. I've let my parents and elder relatives push me around and I've let them mold me into what they want me to be. I've never complained and always kept my mouth shut. And now you're doing the exact same thing. I won't let myself be bossed around anymore. I don't want to keep quiet anymore! You're just doing this so that I'll stop making a fuss. You don't really care. I'm always just going to be a third wheel with both of you anyway." Toshiro felt his rage slowly melting into hopelessness.

"That's not true. Just listen for a minute. We've been friends for almost five years now. You can't possibly think that was all for nothing." Kailani began approaching Toshiro.

"What are you doing? Don't come near me!"

"Calm down, Toshiro. I'm doing this for your own good."

"No! Stay away!"

Out of panic, Toshiro picked up a large stone beside his feet and hurled it at the Hawaiian. He'd expected it to hit him in the chest or the stomach so that he had time to run away. Instead, the stone sailed right at his head and knocked him to the ground. After Kailani fell, he didn't move.

"Kailani!" Konako rushed to his side.

"Oh no," Toshiro said under his breath. "He's alright, isn't he?" He walked closer to see that the stone had jammed right into Kailani's temple, where there was a steady stream of blood oozing out. His eyes were open, but they were completely glazed over. Kailani Waka was dead.

Konako wailed. She held her lover close and sobbed all over him. "Kailani! No! Please wake up! This has to be a joke!"

Toshiro's knees were trembling like crazy. "I-I d-didn't mean to. I didn't want to kill him. I just wanted him to stay away. I-I wasn't aiming for his head, I swear!"

"I don't want to hear it! I hate you, Toshiro!" In a fit of despair, Konako pulled out the long knife she carried in to obi of her kimono and thrust it straight into her chest.

"Konako! Don't!" Toshiro rushed over, but it was too late. She'd hit her target, her heart, perfectly and soon she was nothing but a dead body on another dead body. Toshiro covered his eyes and screamed.

Watanuki fought down stomach bile. He was breathing heavily and nausea swam through his body. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen. The blood… he couldn't handle the blood. He couldn't handle Toshiro's screams. He couldn't stop the tears that sprung into his eyes. How could friendship turn into something this terrible? All he wanted to was to leave the scene. Get me out of here, he wished with all of his heart.

A few seconds later, his wish was granted. Only this time, instead of light, he was engulfed in complete darkness. He panicked. Where was he? He dared not move from where he stood.

Suddenly, it was like he was living out one of his dreams. The figure that he now knew was Konako was standing before him weeping.

-Please help me. I just want to pass on and be with Kailani-

Watanuki understood now. She wasn't trying to terrorize anyone. She just wanted to pass on to the next world. Watanuki felt a deep sympathy for her.

"Of course. I'll do what I can."

-You're the only one who can do it.-

"What do I need to do?"

-Toshiro threw our bodies into the pond because he was afraid of being seen with our bodies at the scene. My soul is trapped in the bottom of the pond.-

"You don't happen to have a feather, do you?"

-I do. It's down there as well. It found its way over to me a while ago and gave me the power to bring heartbroken people to me to keep me company. Is it yours?-

"Not exactly. It belongs to a friend of mine."

-If you can set me free, you may take the feather.-

Sounded like a good deal to Watanuki. "Alright. I'll save you."

And just like that, he was back in his real body. He was still floating around the pond and could thankfully still breathe underwater. He angled his body downwards and swan deeper and deeper into the pond. The pond wasn't very deep and soon he was crawling along the bottom. Just where at the bottom was her soul trapped? His hand skidded against something hard and smooth and it was there that he found the door.

***

Something didn't feel right. No matter which way he turned, it felt like something was missing. He finally gave up on getting comfortable and opened his eyes.

"Watanuki?" Doumeki said softly. It was still dark out, but he couldn't sleep. Something was troubling him. "Oi, Watanuki?"

He pulled back the covers and found the other side of the futon empty. Had he got up to use the restroom? Doumeki ventured to the outhouse to find out, but Watanuki wasn't there either. He returned to the shack and scratched his head in confusion. Where could that boy be? He looked around the suite and his eyes fell on the coat stand by the door. Watanuki's coat, gloves, scarf and boots were gone. The little pack he carried around with him was gone as well. To confirm his suspicions, Doumeki quickly checked the shelf in the kitchen where they'd been keeping the flashlight. Gone, just as he'd thought.

"That freakin' idiot!" He pulled on his jacket and boots over his pajamas and dashed out the door and off to where he knew Watanuki had foolishly gone.

***

Fai and Kurogane were comfortably curled up with each other in bed when Syaoran's and Mokona's shrieks awoke them. They both came stumbling out of their room in bathrobes and found Syaoran running frantically throughout the suite.

"Syaoran! It's three in the morning! What are you and Mokona doing?"

Syaoran spun towards the wizard, breathing heavily. "Sakura's gone! She promised that if she needed anything that she would wake me, but she didn't. Her shoes aren't here so I think she left the building."

Kurogane immediately began throwing on clothes and grabbed his sword. "Let's go look for the little brat, then."

"But where should we start?"

Fai quickly threw on some clothes as well. "We don't have to look. I already know where she is."

***

Toa closed his book with a sigh and placed it beside him. He'd thought that reading would make him sleepy, but it seemed like he would never fall asleep again. He glanced over at the clock beside his bed. Sleep seemed pointless since it was going to be time for him to get up for work in a few hours anyway. Instead of moping around, he decided to take a walk.

He was turning the corner that led to the stairs when he bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry," a small female voice said.

Toa squinted at the girl. "Hiroko?"

"Oh, it's you, Toa! You scared me. It's so dark and I can't see a thing."

"Yeah. What are you doing walking around this late?"

"I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about Kenji and it got me thinking about Yumi and Aya."

Toa nodded. "I was thinking about Kenji too. I couldn't sleep either."

"That's right. You really cared for Kenji, didn't you? As more than a friend, I mean."

"Yeah… You should go back to your room."

"I don't want to. I'm not tired. Where are you headed?"

"I was going to walk somewhere, but it's kind of far."

"That's fine. I'll go too. I have my shoes and my jacket, so it'll be okay."

Toa didn't see the point in forcing her to sit around her room like he'd been doing. "Ok, then let's go."


	8. The Real Chapter 8

**Poison:** ATTENTION. THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER. If things go the way I hope, the next chapter will be the last. I can't believe I'm this far already! It seems like I only just began typing this story. School's out for me now, and hopefully I'll be typing more stories. I have a requested story for Dem Bones (I think?) that I'll be starting soon as well as an Allen/Kanda story on my conjoined account. Please check it out! If anyone has any other suggestions for stories, please let me know! Sorry this is so late. My inspiration had left me and it didn't seem like anything I wrote was worthy of being posted. I got very frustrated and almost gave up altogether. However, the book I'm reading gave me inspiration to finish. When you get to the part in this chapter where Watanuki says "please don't leave me," you can thank Pink for that. Her song was on the radio and it seemed all too appropriate. Please enjoy and review!

Watanuki ran his hand across the wood of the door. What was a door doing at the bottom of a pond? By the feelings he got from it, it wasn't anything a human had done. It had to have been the work of Konako's spirit. He slid his fingers around the sides of the door, but found no leeway where he could slide his fingers under and lift the door up. There was a hole, but when he tried to pull it up by the hole, the door only rattled and wouldn't budge. He spent a couple excruciating moments staring at the door in frustration before slapping himself on the forehead. Boy was he ever a dummy. The doorknob Yuko gave him had to be the way in!

He quickly pulled off his pack and dug inside until his fingers clasped around a cold metallic object. He pulled the old thing out and shoved it into the hole on the door. The doorknob fit almost perfectly and there was a soft click as the doorknob slid completely into place.

He worried for an instant that the minute he opened the door, water would go rushing into his destination. He could breathe in this water, but what if there was something in there that couldn't? He remembered the deal he'd made with Konako and tossed the worry aside.

He turned the doorknob and struggled to heave the door up because of the water pressure. Using the full strength of both of his arms, he finally pulled the door up and pushed it down on the other side of the opening. To his surprise, the water didn't go rushing into the opening. Instead, it sat still, as if a sheet of glass were holding it in.

Another barrier, he thought. Thankfully, he had no trouble getting through this one.

***

Doumeki's breathing filled his ears and his chest heaved violently as he sprinted like he'd never sprinted before. Yes, there had been times where he'd had to save Watanuki, but he could usually tell when Watanuki left for the trouble. This time, the little bastard had snuck off when he was asleep and who knows how long ago he left? There was no time. For all he knew, he was already too late and something terrible had happened. But that didn't stop him from willing himself to run faster with every stride. It didn't stop him from doing all he could to save the one person in this world that meant the most to him.

Please wait until I get there, Doumeki pleaded silently.

He stopped a moment. Was he going the right way? Watanuki had taken the flashlight, so Doumeki had been left without. Only the very first lights of dawn could be seen and the trees blocked this small amount of light. He was sure he'd turned the wrong way at that last turn. He quickly turned around and sprinted back.

After about 50 yards, Doumeki collided violently with someone else. Whoever he'd hit was smaller than him and fell instantly, but he'd managed to keep his balance.

"Oof! What the heck?" a familiar voice said.

"Syaoran?" Doumeki gave him a hand and helped him up. "What are you doing here?"

"Sakura went missing and this was where Fai said she was," Syaoran said quickly, grabbing onto Doumeki's hand and hopping up.

"Missing? She likes to do that, doesn't she? Are the others with you?"

"Yeah, they're a little further back. I got a little ahead of myself and ran ahead. I hope I didn't lose them."

But sure enough, just as he'd finished saying that, a small orb of baby blue light bobbed its way over to Doumeki and Syaoran.

"I thought you said you didn't use magic," Kurogane grumbled.

"Doing little things like lighting the way is okay. The sun will be up soon anyway, so it's not like I have to do this for long," Fai replied, the orb of light in his hands illuminating his grin.

"It's Doumeki!" Mokona exclaimed.

"That it is. What are you doing down here at this hour, Doumeki-kun?" Fai asked in a motherly tone.

"Watanuki's gone too. He snuck out while I was sleeping. I can tell he came this way as well."

"Maybe they met up with each other," Syaoran suggested, hoping it was true and that the princess was safe.

"I swear, if I find those idiots sitting around having a good time while we're out here searching…" Kurogane began with clenched teeth.

His thought was interrupted by another ball of light heading towards them.

"Who's there?" a voice called.

"It's me!" Fai responded cheerfully.

"And Mokona!" Mokona echoed.

Two sets of footsteps jogged over and it was with some relief that they saw that it was Toa and Hiroko.

"Thank goodness," the Hawaiian said. "I though you were some patrollers that were going to get us in trouble."

"I don't know about you, but I was worried that they were something much worse than that," Hiroko said.

"Are you two heading to the pond as well?" Fai asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"It seems that everyone's heading that way. Watanuki and Sakura are both missing and we all just ended up here. Something must be drawing us there. I can't say I have the best feeling about this." Fai's blue eyes seemed to ice over with his cold tone of voice.

In an instant, Toa's collar was in Doumeki's grip and he was holding the Hawaiian's face less than an inch from his own.

"Doumeki! What's the matter with you?" Toa cried out. Hiroko shrieked and backed away.

"What are you really doing here? There's no way you just came out here for a stroll. You know something about this, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Bad stuff has been happening whenever you're around, like when Sakura collapsed. Watanuki's dreams are worse depending on how much he sees you that day. And now you're coming this way like you already knew Watanuki was coming here. Just what are you trying to pull?" Even as Doumeki's anger grew, he never once raised his voice. That's just who he was.

"Watanuki's my friend! The only thing I want to do is help him. I don't know why I came here. Something drew me here. You have to believe me! I know you never liked me from the start, but you have to trust me this time. You have to forget about our differences. Watanuki and Sakura could be in danger right now!"

Doumeki hesitated before loosening his grip and letting Toa go. His face softened, but his brown eyes still held a dull flame.

"You're right. Let's call it a truce for now. For Watanuki and Sakura. Now that I can see with Fai's light, I think the pond should be right past this cluster of bush—"

Doumeki's hand flew to his eye. He recognized this feeling. He was seeing through his other eye. The one that now lied in Watanuki's skull.

"Doumeki, what's-"

"Shhh!"

He closed his other eye and focused on what he was seeing. At first it was nothing but a blur. Then he saw hands, Watanuki's hands, pawing at the air in front of them. It looked weird at first, but then he realized that Watanuki was swimming underwater. His hands moved more violently in front of him, like he was trying to swim faster.

Or like he was struggling.

Without a word, he dashed off into the cluster of bushes in front of him. What was Watanuki doing underwater? Was that spirit drowning him? The others chased after him right away and the bushes were soon flattened under the stampede.

The pond now came into view, but that wasn't what caught everyone's attention. Standing motionless in the clearing was Sakura.

"Princess! We found you! Why on earth are you out here?" Syaoran asked, running over to her.

"Waiting," she replied.

Syaoran looked at her eyes. They weren't empty, but they were… focused. Focused to the point that is seemed she couldn't see the world around her.

"Waiting? Waiting for what?"

She didn't even turn to look at him when she spoke.

"Waiting for my feather."

***

Watanuki sunk through the membrane that was holding the water in place like a thin stretched wall of Jell-O. Unfortunately, although it was smooth going through, he fell straight to the ground once his last hair has passed through.

"Ouch…" Watanuki said under his breath as he rubbed his backside. He pushed himself up and stared down the long dark tunnel in front of him. He closed his eyes. His spirit senses were extremely strong at that moment. Konako was very near.

He fished his flashlight out of his sack and clicked it on. There was nothing notable within his immediate vision, so he began his trek. A little further down, he started noticing scattered bits of something on the ground. He shined his flashlight at the ground.

"Hibiscuses?" he asked himself. The tropical flowers were formed in a jagged and scattered trail down the tunnel. He vaguely remembered them being the symbolic flower of Hawaii. Kailani had called Konako 'Kalei', which while it meant 'loved one' also meant 'a wreath of flowers.' These must be the flowers they use in leis, Watanuki thought. He picked one up and rubbed the petals between his fingers. They felt silky and alive, despite the fact that they were born of Konako's despair. Positive that the flowers would lead him there, he continued further down.

After a while, he thought he heard voices. The voices were soft, as if afraid of being heard. Watanuki hesitated. What if it was something dangerous? Who knew what kinds of things hung around here? He gulped and opened his mouth.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

The reply was instantaneous. It came in a jumble of multiple voices.

"Yes! We're here!"

"Please come this way!"

"Help us!"

He ran further on and was astonished at what his flashlight revealed to him. Against the wall and bound in chains were two weary and dirty looking Tanaka's and furthest from him was someone almost as equally dirty and worn. He shined the light at the third person's face.

"Kenji!"

"Is that you, Watanuki? I'm so glad! How'd you find this place?"

Watanuki began looking for a way to release the chains on one of the Tanaka's. "That's a long story for another time. I need to figure out how to free you guys first. Once I do, you need to get out immediately."

"You need to too. It's dangerous down here. If that spirit of a woman sees you, she'll chain you up too."

"Spirit woman? You mean Konako?"

"I don't know her name, but I know that she's extremely lonely. She calls us her friends and ignores when we say we want to go home. She usually comes and talks to us for hours and gives us some food and water."

Watanuki gave up on releasing the chains. There wasn't even a keyhole to unlock the restraints. Must be spirit handiwork, Watanuki thought. He turned towards Kenji.

"Does that mean she's nearby?" Watanuki asked.

"Probably. I don't think she ever goes very far."

One of the Tanaka's finally spoke. "Who are you?"

Watanuki smiled. "I'm someone who's going to get you all out of here. Hiroko's waiting for me to save you, Yumi, Aya."

Aya's eyes widened. "Hiroko is… waiting for us? You know her then?"

Yumi looked pained. "After the way we acted? I figured she would think we were dead anyway."

Watanuki shook his head. "No matter what happens, you three will still be very close friends, she told me. And she was told you were both dead, but she didn't believe it for one minute."

The two girls looked at each other with extreme relief and tears even danced along their eyelids.

Kenji interrupted the tender moment. "The ghost is coming!" he hissed. "If you don't run she'll get you too, Watanuki!"

"Don't worry. She asked me here to do her a favor."

Kenji looked at him questioningly but said nothing.

The spirit of Konako floated almost angelically towards Watanuki. She was wearing the same kimono she'd been in when she'd stabbed herself that fateful day. Even in death she retained all of her heavenly beauty and Watanuki was in awe.

"You came. I'm glad. I thought that maybe you wouldn't."

Watanuki was astonished at how human she sounded. It had to be the work of the feather. "Of course I came. I don't break promises."

She nodded. "Alright. We have to go back to the surface. I can't be sent to the next world while we're stuck in here."

"Can you set my friends free first?"

"Of course. I no longer have need of them."

"And the feather?"

"That I need just a little while longer."

Watanuki didn't press her for details. With a wave of her hand, the chains vanished into thin air and the three were free.

She turned her dreamy brown eyes towards Watanuki.

"Shall we go?"

***

"Your feather? Is it here?" Syaoran asked the silent princess.

"Yup! Mokona feels it!" Mokona's eyes were wide open now.

Syaoran looked where Sakura was staring. "In that barrier, huh? I don't think waiting around is going to get your feather, Sakura." He walked up the barrier and gave it a fierce kick. Nothing.

"If Sakura's here, then where's Watanuki?" Toa wondered aloud.

"Just what I was wondering," Doumeki said quietly.

Sakura's arm rose and she pointed to the pond. "He's in there. I saw him go. And now I'm waiting."

"You mean he went through the barrier? How?" Syaoran asked, frustrated that he himself couldn't get through.

Fai smiled. "Just as I thought. I knew Watanuki could get in. It's because of his special abilities."

"That's what you meant when you told us not to worry?"

"Yes. I think we should do as Sakura is doing and wait."

Doumeki made a move to object, but stopped himself. He clenched his jaw. As worried as he was about Watanuki, he knew perfectly well that he couldn't get past the barrier either. He felt so useless! He'd always felt like Watanuki needed him to keep the spirits away. He'd taken pleasure in the fact that he was essential to the other boy, but right now he was no more helpful than a rock. Oh how he wanted to run straight through that barrier and find Watanuki!

And apparently, Sakura felt the same way.

"This is taking too long," she said. She set off straight forward.

"Princess, what are you--?"

Syaoran went speechless when the princess walked through the barrier as if it had not been there at all. He immediately took off after her, but ran face first into the invisible wall and fell backwards. He got back up and banged on the barrier with his fists.

"Sakura! Sakura! Come back over here! Sakura!"

Whether or not the girl could hear them, they were ignored and she knelt beside the pond and stared into its waters.

"Please hurry," she whispered to her reflection.

***

Watanuki stumbled a bit. He should have been watching where he was going, but he was enraptured. The five of them were walking down the tunnel and were fast approaching the exit. What had caught Watanuki's attention was that every time Konako walked by a hibiscus, it lifted into the air and vanished. The others had taken notice as well and were watching with the same interest. Konako took no notice at all. She only had one thing on her mind and it had nothing to do with flowers.

The seer walked underneath the small sheath of light that seeped from the opening he'd fallen from earlier. It was lighter than before and Watanuki wondered if the sun was rising.

"We're here, but I'm not sure how we're going to get up there," Watanuki said, scratching the back of his head.

"This is the barrier that's kept me here for so long. But I think if I'm with you, I can get through. Take my hand."

Although Konako looked surreal and slightly transparent, he could still feel her small fragile hand wrap around his own. It was cold as ice but Watanuki tightened his grip and didn't let go. "You guys need to hold on too," Watanuki told the three behind them. Kenji took Watanuki's other hand and Yumi took Konako's. She then took Aya's hand with a warm smile.

"Is everyone ready?" Konako asked in a frail voice.

The others nodded. She kicked off from the ground and the others began floating with her.

"Waaaah! This is weird!" Kenji said with his arms flailing.

"Stop moving around! You might fall," Watanuki said to him.

Just as Konako had predicted, they all sank up into the hole where Watanuki had left the door open. The cold water of the pond shocked them as their heads were in enveloped in water. Watanuki watched with amusement as the others panicked for a brief second before finding that they could breathe in this water. He kicked the door shut, not wanting the water to rush through once the barrier vanished. Konako let go of Watanuki's hand and pulled something out of her kimono. In her hand was a beautiful white feather that he immediately knew to be Sakura's. He took it and put it in his bag, not wanting it to get crushed in his pocket. Then he heard Konako's voice in his mind.

-Now that you have the feather, there's nothing binding me here. My regrets are spent and the barrier no longer keeps me in that dark place.-

The teen could already see Konako fading slowly. The power from the feather had been sustaining her presence on earth and now she looked more like a real ghost. Instinctually, he took both of her transparent hands in his own and closed his eyes while she did the same. He brought his head down until he felt his forehead pressing against hers.

Light emanated from the two and Watanuki felt his body slowly rising. Further and further they went up until he felt his head break through the surface and hit air. Even after his entire body had left the pond, he continued going up. Don't get distracted, he thought. See this all the way through.

When he felt himself stop, he opened one eye. He was at least five feet above the pond and light still surrounded him and Konako. Why had they stopped? Had something gone wrong?

There was a smile on Konako's face and he noticed that she was slowly vanishing. So it was working.

He was relieved for only a second before he noticed that he was vanishing too.

***

After Konako had handed over the feather, the barrier was nonexistent. Syaoran, who was still pressed up against the invisible wall watching Sakura, fell right through the second it disappeared.

"The barrier's gone!"

The others didn't hesitate for a second and ran straight into the clearing and towards the pond. Before they could get too close, however, the pond was suddenly overcome by a bright light that was coming from below.

"Watanuki?" Doumeki whispered to himself.

And sure enough, a moment later, his black hair burst through the surface and the seer was easing further up from the pond. He was hand in hand and head to head with the girl that everyone except Hiroko recognized as the girl that had been in the old photo. This had meant that Watanuki had solved the spirit problem! There was a mutual feeling of relief between everyone and even Doumeki cooled to the point where he stood still and let his muscles relax.

But suddenly, the two stopped moving up. Everyone was waiting for Konako to make her pass into the next world and sure enough she began to fade. But why wasn't Watanuki letting go of her? Doumeki watched closely and couldn't believe his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or not, but he swore that he could see a tree branch _on the other side _of Watanuki. He rubbed his eyes. When he looked again, it was more apparent. Watanuki was fading just as fast as Konako.

***

"Konako! What's happening? I'm disappearing," Watanuki said in a rush.

-You have to let go- Her voice was growing more and more distant.

Watanuki tried, but it was as if his hands were glued to Konako's. "I can't let go," he said. "You're not holding on are you?"

She looked at him with panicked eyes. -I'm sorry, but the door to the next world has already been opened. I don't know if you can get away-

"You mean I'm being pulled in too?" Without waiting for a response, Watanuki struggled to separate himself from Konako. He yanked and pulled until his breathing grew heavy, but nothing worked.

-Someone from your world has to pull you out- came her small voice into Watanuki's head. –Someone who truly cares for you-

Then there was pain, an indescribable pain. His body was being decomposed and fitted to enter the next world. He let out a deafening cry, not sure whether or not anyone else could even hear it. Help, he screamed. Please save me.

Suddenly, his cry was answered by another, this one lower but just as frantic as his own. He turned his head to see Doumeki running towards them, flustered and shouting. His ears were muffled, but he was sure that Doumeki was shouting his name. If I could be saved, Watanuki thought, I would never speak another ill word towards Doumeki again. I would be kind.

Doumeki ran onto the pond and the light and energy sustained his weight, allowing him to run across the surface to the center. Indeed, in Watanuki's eyes, he was close to a Messiah. When the archer reached the two, he wrapped his arms around Watanuki's legs. His grip was so tight that Watanuki could feel it over the pain he'd been feeling.

-Reach out to him- Konako pleaded. –I don't want any more regrets in the next life-

Watanuki could feel Doumeki's voice rumbling against his legs, begging not to leave, begging him not to go. I need you, we all need you, you haven't paid off your debt to Yuko, Kunogi will be upset, what will the pipe fox do, what will I do? Slowly, Watanuki's hand pulled away from Konako's and continued to do so as Doumeki rambled on desperately.

"And you haven't given me an answer yet!" Doumeki screamed, his deep voice rumbling in Watanuki's head.

He released Konako all the way and bent over, embracing Doumeki's head.

It was like a silent bomb had been detonated. Watanuki felt the warmth of the light leave him before the light exploded and Konako vanished. He swore he heard one last thank you escape her lips, but couldn't be sure. The entire event happened with no sound and Watanuki felt like he'd been trapped in a silent movie. Exhaustion washed over him like a tsunami and the last thing he felt was him and Doumeki hitting the cold surface of the pond.

***

Fai, Kurogane, and Syaoran rushed over to the pond and hauled the two boys out of the water. While the water had been pleasant earlier, it was ice cold now. It seemed it had once again become part of the current world. It was fortunate that they'd gotten the two out so fast because thin sheets of ice began to coat the pond shortly thereafter, reacting instantly to the new winter environment.

Exploding through the surface before the ice grew too thick, Kenji, Aya, and Yumi gasped for air and climbed onto land.

"That was weird. We could breathe under there just fine and then suddenly it was like normal water again." He coughed and sputtered.

"I breathed in too much water," Aya said as she hacked up pond water. Yumi did the same, not being able to speak between coughs.

Hiroko practically flew over to the two girls. She dropped to the ground and wrapped her arms around the two.

"Aya! Yumi! I knew you two were alive. I never doubted it for a second!"

"Hiroko, we're sorry!"

"Let's never fight over something like that again!"

"Okay, but you have to promise." Hiroko sobbed into their shoulders.

"We promise!" They held Hiroko tightly and cried with her.

Kenji wiped his mouth and looked upon the three girls, a smile smacked on his face. His eyes didn't match his smile, however. He'd managed to keep his life, but he'd lost something even more precious to him than that. Or so he'd thought.

He heard his name called before he felt arms wrap themselves around him so violently that he almost fell over. A stand of long black hair fell into his face and he knew that it was Toa. Kenji loosely hugged him back, still hurt that Toa's love belonged to someone else. "I'm alright, Toa. Shouldn't you be checking up on Watanuki?"

Toa released him and held him by the shoulders at an arm's length. "Watanuki's fine. He wasn't the one who went missing. Are you sure you're ok? What happened down there? Were you hurt in any way?"

Kenji couldn't help but enjoy Toa being worried about him. He immediately felt ashamed for it. "No, everything's fine. I'm just a little underfed is all." He shook Toa's hands off of his shoulders and looked away.

"Kenji, what's wrong? You're acting like you want me to go away or something. Aren't you glad that you were saved?"

"You mean, am I glad I was saved by your lover? How can I be glad about something like that?"

Toa gave him a bewildered look. "What are talking about? I don't have a lover."

"You don't have to lie. I saw you and Watanuki in your room. You told him that… you loved him." The last words came out weakly and he almost choked on them.

"Oh Kenji! I love him like a brother! I could never have those kinds of feelings for Watanuki when I already feel them for someone else."

Kenji looked back at Toa with wide eyes. "You mean—"

Toa pulled Kenji close and silenced him with a deep and passionate kiss. Kenji held him back, pressing his body against Toa's warmth and deepening the kiss. After their lips parted, Toa held Kenji's head against his chest and whispered, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. You always seemed so busy and the only time I got to see you was at work. Was that what you were going to tell me that night?"

Kenji nuzzled his head and breathed in Toa's scent. "Yes. You were always really busy too, you know," he said like a pouty little boy. Toa laughed and ruffled his hair.

Fai watched the two and slipped his hand into Kurogane's. "If they can be so open about it, I think we should too."

Kurogane squeezed Fai's fingers gently. "Yeah. I don't like how it feels to hide it either."

"Let's wait until later. We need to wake up Watanuki and Doumeki first and get Sakura's feather to her. Plus I think everyone needs some sleep after this too."

Kurogane nodded and released the wizard's slender hand. He walked over to the unconscious Watanuki and sat beside him.

"Oi. Wake up. Hey, I said wake up, brat. Oi!" Kurogane flicked Watanuki between the eyes violently with his thick fingers and Watanuki moaned.

"Doumeki?" he asked as his eyes slid open. He'd heard the "oi" and thought that it was the archer speaking to him.

"Guess again. You got that feather? We need it now."

Watanuki nodded and sat up groggily. He sleepily pulled the angelic white object out of his bag, thankful it hadn't gotten destroyed by the water. The warrior took it and stood up to give it to Syaoran.

Syaoran held the feather over Sakura's chest and watched it sink in as the feathers always did. He watched her for a moment as a warm smile danced across her face.

"What is it?" he asked the princess.

"It was a very good memory. I saw my brother there. At one point I was talking to myself, but I felt very happy. I always seem to feel happy when I talk to myself in these memories."

Syaoran went against his usual code of honor and grabbed Sakura's hand. He planted a quick peck on Sakura's lips and watched her face glow red. The moment was interrupted by Watanuki's voice.

"What do you mean he won't wake up?"

Fai shook his head. "I've tried. Doumeki's out cold, it seems."

"He's okay though, right?"

Fai shrugged. "I can't find where his heart beat is. He's wearing too many layers and I can't find his pulse."

"There's no way! That moron can survive anything," Watanuki said to himself more than to the others.

"I don't know. Because of your abilities, I don't think that whole thing had much of an effect on you. But someone like Doumeki getting that close to the door to the next world… something could have easily happened to him. We can't be sure, though."

Watanuki fell to his knees next to Doumeki and planted his hands next to either side of the archer's head.

"Come on! Wake up! You better not be doing this to mess with me! Wake up!" He shook Doumeki's shoulder. "Come on." He felt his voice faltering. "Don't you want to go to the shack to sleep? It's a lot more comfortable than the snow. You'll get sick lying out here. You wanted an answer, didn't you? I won't go out with you unless you wake up! Just wake up…" Watanuki's vision blurred as tears filled his lower eyelids. He didn't want to end up like Kikuchi. He didn't want to share the old man's fate of losing something precious to him. He grabbed Doumeki's collar and buried his face in it. "Please, please don't leave me."

"Be quiet, aho (idiot). I'm trying to sleep."

Watanuki's head snapped up. Doumeki was looking at him with the same brown apathetic eyes he'd always looked at him with. Watanuki stood up and kicked snow onto the other boy.

"You asshole! You had me worried for nothing! Why didn't you respond when I first told you to wake up?!"

Doumeki sat up and wiped the snow off of his clothes. "I told you. I was trying to sleep. Besides," his mouth twisted into a grin, "I wouldn't have got to hear you plead me not to leave you."

"Sh-shut up! I would've never said that if I knew you were fine! I wish you really had died, you stupid jerk!" Watanuki turned the other way and crossed his arms.

Doumeki stood up and slipped his arms around Watanuki's waist from behind. He playfully rested his chin on Watanuki's shoulder. "And what about that promise you made me?"

"Wh-what promise?" Watanuki felt his body heat rising as Doumeki's breath brushed his ear.

"You said you wouldn't go out with me unless I woke up. Well, here I am, awake and well."

"I was lying! I was just trying to get you to wake up."

"No you weren't. You're lying right now, though. You were worried about me. Admit it. You care about me. You _love _me."

Watanuki couldn't bring himself to deny it. That helplessness he'd felt when he'd thought he'd lost Doumeki laid the truth out in front of him. He really did love Doumeki. His face burned with the realization.

"Idiot! Everyone's watching!" Watanuki elbowed Doumeki in the ribs and pulled away. He turned towards the archer and looked nervously at the ground. "Let's go back to the shack. I'm tired."

Doumeki held his rib and smiled. Watanuki wouldn't verbally admit it, but Doumeki could see that he'd been right.

Everyone, being just as tired as Watanuki, followed the two boys out of the forest. They all looked upon the two with tender eyes when Watanuki let Doumeki hold his hand the entire way there.

When they reached the shack, they bid the others farewell. Kenji, knowing the quickest route, stole to the front of the group and led them away. Watanuki watched them as they disappeared and shielded his eyes against the rising sun. They'd really been gone all night. Strangely enough, even though Watanuki had gotten almost no sleep, he wasn't that tired and felt that he would be okay with only a few hours sleep.

Doumeki pulled him into the shack and Watanuki began looking across the room, remembering what the shack had looked like so many years ago. Amongst the rotting wood, he could see the three sitting, playing cards, laughing, drinking tea… He squeezed Doumeki's hand, thankful that he hadn't lost what Kikuchi had lost.

They stripped off their coats and scarves and mittens and boots and collapsed onto the futon. It was still crappy as it had always been, but felt like heaven to them at that moment.

"Let's just sleep for a little while. I want to enjoy our last day here since we have to leave early tomorrow morning," Watanuki said as he pulled the covers over himself.

"Oi."

Watanuki rolled over and faced Doumeki. "What is it?"

"You almost forgot to take off your glasses." Doumeki slipped the spectacles off of Watanuki's face, folded them, and placed them next to the futon. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Watanuki's. Watanuki kissed him back and soon they were wrapped in each other's arms. Doumeki slid his hand into Watanuki's shirt and Watanuki pulled away.

"Don't even think about it," he said quietly. "I'm too damn tired and I only just said we could be together a little while ago!"

Doumeki yawned and nodded. "Sorry. I forgot how tired I was too." He took Watanuki in his arms again and soon they were both fast asleep.

***

The others as well were fast asleep. Aya, Yumi, and Hiroko hadn't wanted to go separate ways yet and they ended up falling asleep in Hiroko's bed, Aya and Yumi each clinging to one of Hiroko's arms.

When Toa had given Kenji a kiss on the cheek goodnight and started heading towards his room, Kenji had caught him by the sleeve. Stay with me, he'd asked of the Hawaiian. Toa had given him a seductive look and Kenji quickly said he only wanted Toa with him while he slept. The Hawaiian agreed.

Mokona had insisted (loudly, to Syaoran's dismay) that it wanted to sleep with Sakura so that Syaoran wouldn't try anything. Mokona ignored the angry rebukes Syaoran shouted at the fuzzy creature for saying such a thing. Fai laughed at his childishness and laughed some more when he saw how fast Kurogane fell asleep. He was going to need his rest for when they let Sakura and Syaoran know about their relationship later. He snuggled up to the big warrior and enjoyed his warmth before falling asleep with him.

In a few hours, the natural order of the world would be restored.


	9. What the Snow Offers

AUTHOR'S NOTE IS AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. THANK YOU.

Sakura and Syaoran shifted nervously in their seats. You could tell that they were anxious to go wild and have as much fun as possible on their last day here. After today, Mokona would send them off to another world and another adventure.

But for now they waited. Kurogane and Fai had gathered them in the living room after they'd eaten breakfast and gotten ready for the day ahead. They told them they had something important to tell them.

"Syaoran," Fai began softly, "how important do you think love is?"

Syaoran turned red but kept his resolve. "I think it's more important than anything. If there was no love, people wouldn't have a reason to fight for what's precious to them and evil would rule the world." He glanced over quickly at Sakura who was smiling.

"I think," the princess said, "it's what makes people happy."

Mokona bounced around, impatient to hear what the creature already knew Fai was going to tell them.

"Tell me, what do you think of Toa and Kenji's love? Or Doumeki and Watanuki?" Fai leaned closer towards Syaoran.

Syaoran thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what you mean. The fact that they're both men? I don't think that matters. Toa, Kenji, Watanuki, and Doumeki are all strong and wonderful people and I can tell that their love is true. There are tons of normal couples who don't feel as strongly for each other as those four do."

"I think it's beautiful," Sakura added.

Fai smiled and Kurogane watched him uneasily. "Well, then." Fai grabbed Kurogane's hand and laced their fingers together. He held their hands up in the air. "We weren't sure how to tell you this, but Kurogane and I have that same kind of love. We certainly hope that doesn't change anything between the five of us."

"Yay! They finally said it!" Mokona exclaimed.

Sakura jumped up and clapped her hands together. "I'm so happy! I've always thought that you two were good for each other!" She ran over and gave both of them a hug. (What's this? Do we have a yaoi fangirl in hiding here?)

Fai giggled and Kurogane sighed with relief.

"Surely now you'll both become stronger since you'll be fighting to protect each other in future battles," Sakura said.

"Of course! Kuro-poo wouldn't want anything to happen to _my _pretty little face, would you?" He looked up at the warrior with puppy eyes and a pouty face.

"Tch. Full of yourself as always," Kurogane muttered. The wizard looked dejected. When Kurogane saw this, he sighed, leaned Fai over on the couch, and gave him a riveting kiss.

"Gyaah! I love you Kuro-tan!" Fai threw himself onto the warrior and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, we're keeping this PG around the kids, got it?"

Sakura gasped. "You mean you two have already—"

"Hey! What are we sitting here for! Let's go!" Kurogane yelled quickly, changing the subject.

Sakura and Mokona laughed while Syaoran looked at them in confusion.

"You're right. Let's go have fun!"

***

"Tickles…" Kenji mumbled. Something was tickling his nose. He tried wiggling it off, but it only made his nose tickle more. He opened his eyes the slightest bit and saw a black blur in front of him. He opened his eyes all the way and found the source of the tickling. A strand of Toa's hair was lying on his nose. He blew upwards at the strand and watched it float off and onto the bed.

He propped himself up on the bed and looked at the Hawaiian sleeping in front of him. His rich black hair was splashed across the pillow. He smiled, remembering how they'd fallen asleep in each other's arms the night before. It felt really nice.

Toa moaned. He opened his dark eyes and looked up at his newfound love. "Still sleepy," he muttered.

"Then go back to sleep. I'm going to go get breakfast, but I'll come back when I'm done."

"Nooooo. Stay here with me." Toa pulled Kenji back down and held him there like a teddy bear.

"Come on, Toa! Either get up or let me go."

But it was too late. The Hawaiian had closed his eyes and his grip on Kenji was strong. Feeling Toa's warmth, Kenji felt sleepy all over again as well.

"Sheesh. We still have work you know," Kenji said before yawning.

"Hm?"

"Work. I said we have work."

"Work… OH CRAP, WORK!" Toa leapt out of bed and began scrambling out of his pajamas.

Kenji laughed, getting dressed at a slower pace. "That certainly got you out of bed."

"Of course! I can't afford to get fired or it's back to being a free-lance athletic trainer and that doesn't exactly bring in a ton of money."

"True." Kenji neatly slipped on his French waiter uniform. He was glad he didn't have to wear that stiff white Kikuchi Lodge uniform as much anymore. It was too bad for Hiroko though.

Toa finished getting ready and was about to leave when he looked back over at Kenji. He grinned and walked over. "I really love this outfit. You'll have to let me take it off of you sometime."

"What?! Take it o—?"

Toa kissed him before he could finish and ran for the door again. "I'll see you at my lunch break!"

Kenji sighed at Toa's immaturity but found himself smiling all the same.

***

"How should I do your hair, Aya? What about you, Yumi?" Hiroko asked the two as they sat in front of the vanity set in her room.

"You want to do our hair, Hiroko?" Yumi asked.

"Yes! It's grown since you went missing. It's longer than the other Tanaka's now. You have some split ends, but we can't take care of those some other time. Pigtails? Half-up half-down? How about braids? I have a curling iron too!"

In the end, Aya ended up with a head full of curls and Yumi ended up with pigtail braids. They wouldn't let Hiroko get away without doing something to her hair, so they straightened her hair and placed barrettes on either side.

"Let's go show everyone that we're not just Tanaka's anymore," Hiroko told the other two. "We're Hiroko, Yumi, and Aya!"

***

It seemed so strange. Familiar, but strange. Almost like returning to a place of one's childhood, but not quite. It was a big more foreign

That was how Kimihiro Watanuki felt when he first awoke a few hours later. Even though it couldn't have been longer than four hours, he felt as if he'd slept an eternity. What was that story where that guy slept under a tree for all those years? He couldn't remember.

He was anxious to get out of bed and stretch his legs, but drowsiness kept him rooted to the spot. Something else too, what was it? He breathed in deeply and felt his chest lifting something. Ah, that was it. Doumeki's arm was thrown over Watanuki and holding him gently around his waist.

He turned to look at Doumeki's face and was immediately embarrassed. He was so close that Watanuki could count his eyelashes. He brought his hand up to his chest and placed it over his heart. These feelings. He'd been holding them within his body for so long. In the beginning, he'd genuinely detested Doumeki. He'd been hopelessly in love with the lovely Himawari-chan and Doumeki posed a threat. Aside from that, he was rude, informal, and something of a glutton. No matter how much Watanuki told the other boy that he hated him, the archer would bother him day after day.

That was the first thing that got to Watanuki. Was he just stupid or trying to be annoying? It seemed that since he was so popular he'd have better things to do and other people to be around. But every time he chose Watanuki and Himawari. He thought that Doumeki was after Himawari for sure, but soon the boy walked home with him and saw him on days that they didn't have school. As much as Watanuki hated to admit it, he secretly liked it when Doumeki asked specifically for his food and scarfed it down. It was the only reason he kept making the archer lunch everyday.

The next thing that got to Watanuki was when Doumeki started coming constantly to his rescue. It's human nature to help a person in need if you have the ability, but Doumeki had gone beyond this. He was concerned about Watanuki's well-being all the time, not just when they were in danger. He'd even given him his eye. He'd come rushing when Watanuki had almost died when he'd befriended that lonely ghost woman. Soon, Watanuki had become dependent on that sense of security. He'd been too blind and ignorant to see that it was the beginning of love. Doumeki had been smarter than that. He'd known how he felt for Watanuki all along. In truth, he was just glad to be free of that struggle for understanding. Here the archer was in front of him, all his, the proof being his memory of the previous night and the arm cradling him even in sleep.

The drowsiness began to fade and hunger settled in. He even felt like the bottoms he was wearing were baggier on him. He thought about the beautiful fluffy omelets they made in the main building and salivated. He imagined that Doumeki would be hungry too, being the pig that he was. He squeezed Doumeki's nose. "Hey. Get up. I want to go eat."

Doumeki waved Watanuki's hand away and muttered something incomprehensible.

"What?"

"I said, 'not cute at all.' It would have been cute if you'd kissed me awake."

Watanuki sat straight up. "Well excuse me for not being cute!"

Doumeki sat up with him. "I didn't say that. I said what you did wasn't cute. You, however, are irresistibly cute."

"Q-quit saying stupid things like that. It's embarrassing!"

"Fine. If you won't do it, I will." He leaned forward and caught Watanuki's lips in his own. He brushed some hair from Watanuki's face and planted another kiss on Watanuki's right eyelid.

"What are you doing?" the seer asked, flustered.

"Just kissing the one thing we share," he replied, referring to the eye he'd given Watanuki.

"You're so cheesy! Let's just go get breakfast." It was all Watanuki could do to keep from smiling. He didn't want Doumeki to see it or the big oaf would never let him live it down.

***

For breakfast, Kenji had made everyone delicious plates of omelets, croissants, and fruit. They ate quickly, not wanting to waste any of the day.

At the check-in desk, things were moving much more quickly now that Hiroko had Yumi and Aya to work beside her. Their cheerfulness immediately painted smiles on the customers' faces and a few boys even requested a date with them which they politely declined. It would be awhile until they stepped into that field again.

It was by majority rule that they all go skiing and snowboarding with Toa. Doumeki wanted to be the one to guide Watanuki this time and Toa gladly gave Sakura lessons while Mokona sat happily upon her shoulders.

"You're so cool, Syaoran!" Sakura called out as the boy flipped in the air on his snowboard. He turned to her with a red face and smiled and waved. His knees grew wobbly from embarrassment and he lost balance and tumbled. "Oh no!" Sakura gasped. When she saw that he was okay, she laughed.

"You wanna race, Kuro-pii?" Fai asked his lover.

"What, you against me? That doesn't seem fair. I'll beat you by a mile," the warrior said arrogantly.

"If you think so, then I guess I'll just have to take a head start." Fai started down the slope.

"Hey! That's cheating you stupid wizard!"

"Then hurry up and catch me, Kuro-slowpoke!"

"That's not even an honorific nickname! That's just stupid!"

"You certainly say stupid a lot. Care to broaden your vocabulary?"

"Grrr!"

The two zoomed past Watanuki and would have knocked him over if Doumeki hadn't been there to catch him. "Careful. Don't cross your skis if you can help it with those long gangly legs of yours."

Watanuki furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. He stared down at his feet, forcing his legs to keep steady. "I think I'm getting the hang of it!"

"Good. Let's try going slowly down this hill now. Oh, Watanuki, don't stare at your feet like that, you'll run into—"

Watanuki's ski caught on a large rock in front of him and sent him straight into the ground.

"Oi, retard. You're supposed to keep your eyes ahead of you at all times."

Watanuki spit snow out of his mouth. Instead of yelling at Doumeki, he said, "Let's try it again. I want to get this right."

***

It was with some regret that the group gathered up for the last time to eat dinner. The day seemed to fly by but was full of more than enough memories.

They all agreed on a small Greek place in the main building called Gyros*. The women who worked there floated eagerly around Fai and were more than willing to give him and his friends the best service possible.

"Anything for Le Chat Blanc-sama, huh?" Toa mused.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Of course." Fai had almost forgotten the role he'd been playing. His lips curled into a smile. "Hey, do you want to know a secret, Toa?"

"What?"

"I'm not really Le Chat Blanc. I'm actually a wizard from another dimension. And Kurogane, Syaoran, and Sakura are all from different dimensions too. And Mokona? Not really a stuffed animal. Mokona moves and talks."

The others stared in horror at Fai for a long moment. Breaking the silence, Fai burst into laughter. "Oh man! The look on your face, Toa! And everyone else too! I was just messing with you. I'm not just a French model, you know. I've also got a great sense of humor."

Toa laughed. "Whew! You almost had me there for a second. You seemed so serious."

"You're so charming, Chat-sama," Hiroko chimed. Aya and Yumi giggled in agreement.

Watanuki laughed nervously out of relief. He opened one of his dolmades** and began eating at the rice and beef. "There's one thing I forgot to do. I still need to report to Kikuchi that I've fixed the spirit problem."

Kenji frowned. "About that… I meant to tell you earlier, but I forgot. Kikuchi's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. He just suddenly left the resort abruptly last night according to the Yamada's that I work with. He left a note saying that he's not coming back. He left another note, but it said that only one of Kikuchi's assistants could open it. I guess we'll find out sooner or later. Thankfully, Kikuchi had enough assistants to keep this place running smoothly until we get a new director." He popped a Greek olive into his mouth.

"That's disgusting," Watanuki said.

"I know. Just leaving this entire resort without a director. What a horrible man."

"I wasn't talking about that. You just ate that Greek olive like it was nothing. Greek olives are disgusting."

"You think so? I like the salty tang they have."

The waitress arrived at their table and set down a platter full of Italian sodas. "There you are. Anything else?"

"I think we're good, thank you," Watanuki said as everybody seized their soda.

Toa ripped the top off of two creams and dumped them in the soda.

"You're putting cream in there?" Kenji asked.

"Yeah. Italian soda tastes best with two creams added."

The others decided to do the same and eagerly agreed with the Hawaiian.

Watanuki placed his chin in his hand. He was going to miss everyone here. Even this talk about little things like cream and olives was precious to him. He almost wished that this night would never end. But he had another life back at home. He had school and his job at the shop. He had Himawari to return to and to make lunches for and a new life to begin with Doumeki.

The waitress returned once more. There was no bill since the food was part of the price of staying at the resort, so what was it that she wanted?

"Toa Waka?" she asked.

"That's me!" he responded cheerfully.

"One of the advisors is here to see you."

"Ah crap. I hope I'm not in trouble. Or worse! I hope I'm not fired. Do you think you could ask him to come here? I'm trapped," Toa said since he was surrounded by the others in the large booth they were sitting in.

"Certainly."

A moment later, a serious looking man in glasses and a suit walked over to their table. "Which one of you is Toa Waka?"

"Me," Toa said, getting tired of identifying himself.

"I'm here concerning a document Kikuchi-sama left behind. We inspected the document thoroughly and he left a note with it as well that verified the credibility of said document." He went into a deep bow. "You are to be the new owner and director of this resort, Waka-sama."

Toa choked on his Italian soda. "What?! Me?"

"Yes. It is specifically said that the resort go to the rightful heir. The original owner was going to be a man by the name of Kailani Waka, but he was unable to fulfill the duty and Kikuchi-sama took his place. Now that he has left for what we believe is retirement, he is handing it down to you, Kailani Waka's descendent."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't think I can handle this. I'm only 20! I'm practically still a kid. And I don't know anything about running businesses."

"The other advisors and I will be assisting you to the best of our abilities. This was Kikuchi-sama's wish."

Kenji nudged his lover. "Take it! Can you imagine how much money that will bring in for you? And everyone loves you here. Haven't you ever wanted to make changes to this place?"

He looked down at him. "Yeah. You're right. Sure, I'll take it! Do I start tomorrow?"

"You may start whenever it is most convenient, Waka-sama."

"Okay! Then first thing tomorrow, we're going to be making some changes around here!"

"A toast, then," Fai said, raising his glass. "To Toa. And to us."

The others raised their glasses as well and clanked them together joyously.

"Kampai!***"

***

Kenji beamed as he and Toa walked hand in hand down the hallway that contained their rooms.

"I still can't get over it! Toa Waka, the owner of the Japan-based Kikuchi resort. It's so exciting!" He tightened his grip on the Hawaiian's hand.

They stopped in front of Kenji's room. The Yamada immediately felt sad. "Tonight was so much fun. I'm really going to miss Watanuki and the others. I wish it could last a little bit longer."

Toa smiled at him. "It could, if you wanted."

Kenji's face burned like lava from the volcanoes of Toa's homeland. "Y-you mean… you w-want to…"

Toa bent over and enveloped Kenji's lips in his own. The tension left Kenji's body and he gave himself over to Toa's love. Toa opened the door behind them and softly eased his lover into the room, still drowning him in kisses. He pushed his way through until the back of Kenji's legs hit the bed and they fell over. The smaller boy's mind went into a small state of panic, but this panic soon vanished when he felt how natural it was to have his lover's hands all over his body.

Their clothes slid off so easily and Toa was surprised at just how soft Kenji's skin was. There was nothing in the world that could stop him from having his way with the smaller boy.

And what could Kenji do? Toa lit a fire in him like a million tiki torches.

***

Kurogane was already tugging at Fai's clothes the second they'd entered their room. They were openly in love now and Kurogane was eager to feel the wizard's body against his own again.

It was Fai's fault really. After dinner, he'd told Kurogane, "This is our last night here, you know. Who knows the next time we'll slip into a world where we have privacy. Or a soft bed."

Kurogane could think of a million reasons why that wasn't a good idea. However, the wizard had pulled him out of everyone's view and coaxed him into such a passionate kiss that Kurogane couldn't do anything but agree with Fai's wishes.

That one kiss had been enough to make Kurogane overeager and he was now planting his mouth on Fai's fair neck. He grinded his hips into Fai's and invoked a cry of pleasure from the wizard.

There was heat, of course, but more than anything they felt warmth. The warmth of what their actions meant, not just what the actions _were_.

***

"There," Watanuki said, tossing the last thing he needed into one of his bags. The bus was arriving early the next morning, so the two had decided on packing the night before so that they wouldn't be late. He gazed into his bag at the lucky rabbit's foot before zipping it up. The object had been like a talisman to him during this trip, but he didn't think he would need it anymore. He would return it to Yuko when he arrived home. He wondered if she even needed it. It was just some cheap thing. Hopefully she wasn't expecting to get that doorknob back. He still couldn't believe that Yuko had had the doorknob needed for this assignment in her possession. Where did she get all that random crap? Despite the mystery of it, Watanuki could only think of the week's worth of dust he would be dusting off that crap.

Oh no! He'd been gone a whole week! Yuko's shop had surely become a complete dump that would take him ages to clean. Was she okay? Was she starving without him there to feed her? And what about Mokona? He prayed that Maru and Moro had looked after them properly.

"Oi. Space cadet Watanuki. You back on earth yet?" Doumeki's voice walked into his thoughts.

"You'd think that the way things are now, you would call me something other than 'oi' or 'hey'."

Doumeki thought for a moment. "How about Oi-chan?"

"That's even worse!"

"Okay, okay." Doumeki slid his arms around Watanuki's small waist. "How about I just call you Watanuki then? And you can just call me Doumeki. Then, as we grow closer, I can call you Kimihiro and you can call me Shizuka."

"Psh. Whatever. I don't really care what we call each other."

Doumeki smiled at the shorter boy and they wavered for a second before falling into a kiss. Watanuki felt that same dizzying feeling he'd felt the night before when Doumeki had first kissed him. But this was different. He was unsteady, but kissed back this time, savoring the feeling of Doumeki's soft warm lips and his eyelashes tickling his cheekbones. When Doumeki slid his tongue into his mouth, Watanuki responded, doing all that he could to become enveloped in the archer.

When they broke apart, they both knew what the other was thinking. After this, it was back to school and normal life. Watanuki had a job and Doumeki had a temple to attend to. Not to mention Yuko probably had a list written up of other 'errands' for the two to run. Their lives would once again be enveloped in responsibility and they would return to being busy with few breaks. It might be a long time before they had another chance like tonight.

Watanuki slid off his glasses, ready to let Doumeki sweep him away.

***

"Toa, I can't breathe!" Watanuki gasped in Toa's bone-crushing bear hug.

"Wah! Promise you'll come see me! You can stay for free whenever you want! Promise me!"

"I promise! I promise!"

The Hawaiian released him and gave him a sorrowful smile. "You too, Doumeki. Not that'd you'd let Kimihiro go anywhere on his own anyway."

"Of course not. I wish you the best of luck with your new job." He went into a small bow.

"Thank you." Toa did the same.

Kenji extended his hand and shook Watanuki's and Doumeki's hands. "I too hope that you'll both come back. I want you guys to see what this place will become now that Toa's in charge."

"Don't be so humble! You're going to be my closest advisor, Kenji."

Kenji blushed. "Yes, but you're the one who's going to work all the magic."

"There's no way we won't come back. I've given you my address and email, so we'll talk often. Save a _real _room for us next time, ok?"

"Can do!"

Hiroko, Aya, and Yumi smothered them in hugs and tears before their departure as well. They were truly in Watanuki's debt for reuniting them.

Syaoran and the others managed to make it there before their bus arrived.

"As much as I want to join in all of these goodbyes, I'm certain we'll see you again soon, Watanuki-san," Fai said.

Watanuki nodded. They'd be looking to Yuko for help again soon enough.

"We must take our leave now too," Syaoran said, looking to Mokona.

"Yay! It's time for Mokona's thing!"

The white creature leapt into the air and opened its mouth unimaginably wide.

"Good bye, everyone!" Sakura waved cheerfully as they were sucked in and disappeared.

Watanuki slapped his forehead. "Careless…" he muttered.

Toa's mouth fell open. "Oh my god! He wasn't kidding last night, was he? I can't believe that stuff he said is true! This is huge! Le Chat Blanc is actually a wizard!"

"Um, that's not quite right…" Watanuki began. Oh well. Let him believe what he wanted.

The bus sputtered and rumbled up behind them. Toa started wailing again.

"Toa, please! We'll communicate often and see each other again, okay?" Watanuki said, calming the Hawaiian down.

"Okay," Toa blubbered, crushing Watanuki and Doumeki in one final painful hug.

The two gave one last wave before climbing on the bus. Toa waved incessantly until the bus was out of sight.

"Wah! Kenji!" he cried, clasping onto his lover.

"Yes, I know. But it's time for you to begin your job as the owner of this place. Work hard so that Watanuki and Doumeki have an even nicer resort to return to."

He lifted the shorter boy in the air. "Yes! Let's go, Kenji!"

***

As expected, Watanuki was working for hours at the mess the witch made.

"This is ridiculous! Crumbs all over the carpet! Spills everywhere! Dust two inches thick! You are the laziest person to ever live!" Watanuki ranted.

"I don't know. I think King Louis XIV**** has me beat," the witch replied.

"Don't forget me, Watanuki whose name means April 1st!" Mokona added.

"I liked the white one better," Watanuki said through clenched teeth.

"Watanuki's annoyed! Watanuki's annoyed!" Maru and Moro sang.

Yuko took a long drag on her pipe. "Don't be so annoyed with me. I did you a favor."

Watanuki laughed. "You? Doing me a favor? And what would that be?"

"Setting up the scene for you and Doumeki, of course!"

Watanuki's cheeks burned. "What? We would've told each other no matter what!"

"That's a lie and you know it. Isolation was just what you needed," Yuko said, her ruby lips curled into a smile.

Watanuki said nothing and continued cleaning. He regretfully knew that she was right.

"Such relief! It was killing all of us watching you two bicker all the time. Doumeki was ready to tell you, but you were too much of a pain. Himawari felt the same, am I right?"

It was true. When they'd returned to school, she'd seen the difference between Watanuki and Doumeki automatically. She'd just watched them at first, but couldn't hold it in anymore. At lunch, she'd blurted out, "Did you guys finally get together?" Watanuki had nearly choked on a piece of squid and Doumeki had to swat his back until he coughed it back up. She told them that she'd been waiting for what seemed like forever for it to happen. Doumeki had told her how he'd felt about Watanuki and she'd told him to tell him as soon as there was a perfect moment. She'd expressed her happiness for them and told Watanuki she was glad that he wasn't lying to himself about being in love with her anymore. Truthfully, he still did love her, but like a sister, or like an uncle loves their favorite niece. He would still bear his teeth at guys who came her way, but for a different reason.

"Need some help?"

Watanuki looked up to see Doumeki picking up books off of the floor and sliding them into the bookcase.

"Doumeki! I thought you couldn't come in here!"

"I thought so too. But then I thought, 'I wish I could help Watanuki with all that cleaning' and it appeared. Cool, no?"

Watanuki smiled. "Yeah."

Yuko watched them clean together, grinning at the success her plan had produced.

***

The smell of salt and greenery was everywhere. Colors danced through the trees no matter which way one went. This was the beauty of Hawaii. Or the sea side of the largest island anyway.

Toshiro Kikuchi had arrived here a few days ago and had bought a small shack on the beach. He had more than enough money to retire and had decided that enough was enough. He now lived nearby one of his daughters and their grandchildren. He could now take his role as a gentle, retired grandfather.

The night he left, he'd seen Konako appear before him. He'd known all along that it was her who was haunting the resort. That's the main reason he'd been so desperate for an exorcist. He was sick of the past poisoning his life.

But Konako had moved on. The ghost boys had done their job. Most importantly, when Konako had appeared before him that night, she had forgiven him. Her grudge over Kailani's death was gone. She only wanted a peaceful afterlife and for her dear friend Toshiro to enjoy the rest of his life.

He hadn't forgotten about the strange woman who owned that shop and sent her the payment she'd asked for. For some reason, instead of money, she'd asked for the hair clip of Konako's that he'd kept all these years. He'd been sad to part with it, but it was all part of his new beginning. Konako had moved on, the resort was no longer his responsibility, and he'd even come to an entirely different country. He felt confident leaving the resort in that Waka boy's hands. His resemblance to Kailani was uncanny: his face, his voice, and even the way he acted. He had that same radiance that brought happiness to those around him.

He walked down a small stone path until he reached the graveyard. Despite being what it was, the graveyard was beautiful. There were flowers adorning numerous graves and others that grew from the ground. They danced in the breeze, almost as if they were celebrating the dead.

He first stopped by his wife's grave. He placed lovely purple flowers on her grave and said a quick prayer for her. She'd been a sweet girl and had given him three beautiful daughters. No sons to carry on the business, but he loved his children all the same. It was by his daughters' request that she be buried in this lovely state.

Then he moved on further down the graveyard. The graves were set according to date, so he had to go quite a ways to reach Kailani and Konako's grave. They sat side by side, just as Toshiro himself had asked. He placed a single bundle of flowers between the graves to share because he knew they would have rather shared them had they the choice. He kneeled in front of the tombstones. He ran his withered fingers across the names and dates and sighed. Then he smiled.

"Thank you," he said to the two slabs of rock. "And I'm glad you two are finally together."

***

Watanuki stared at the letter. Could it really be?

On the letter was the address for the Kikuchi resort from a Mr. Toa Waka. For the past year, he'd received emails from him and Kenji from time to time, letting him know how they and the girls were doing and how the resort was changing. However, these emails were never very long and Watanuki assumed it was because they were extremely busy.

He ran into his house and didn't even bother with finding the letter opener. He ripped it open without mercy and yanked the letter out:

_Dear Kimihiro,_

_Yo! What's up? Sorry I haven't really kept in touch. I'm not sure how to put an entire year in one letter, but I'll try. Things are so hectic here! Being boss is a lot harder than I thought. But I have my beloved Kenji here to assist me. It seems like he grows cuter and cuter each day. He would kill me if he saw me write that. How are you and Doumeki? Any progress in your relationship? You didn't break up, did you? No, I'm sure you would've told me something as important as that._

_Anyway, we've given the forest land over to a wildlife reservation. They take excellent care of the plants and animals and let guests in to observe the nature. The resort had no use for that land anyway. The pond is now home to fish and ducks. I love feeding those little guys!_

_The Tanaka's and Yamada's here are no longer called as such. They now all look different because I've allowed them to wear their hair and stuff however they wish. The uniforms are different too. I sent a picture of Hiroko and the girls in the new uniform. It should be in the envelope. The buildings are a lot more colorful too. The delicious okonomiyaki hasn't changed one bit though!_

_Now for the reason I'm writing. It's almost been an entire year, hasn't it? The resort's about to enter its busy winter season, but I made sure to save you and Doumeki one of the best rooms we have. I also enclosed two bus tickets to the resort. You have that same week off, right? You can always email me if you need to._

_I'm so happy! I can't wait to see you two again. Kenji too. It's too bad Chat-sama is off in other dimensions, isn't it?_

_Sincerely,_

_Toa Waka, your good friend._

He pulled the photo of Hiroko and the girls out of the envelope and smiled. The new uniform consisted of a red button-up shirt with a red tie, a red and white plaid skirt, and stylish red boots. The three all had bubbly hair styles and Watanuki could hardly believe how long Hiroko's hair had become. He liked their smiles best of all.

Next the pulled the two bus tickets out. They looked exactly the same as they had the year before and the memories came flooding back. He held the tickets to his lips and closed his eyes. He couldn't wait to surprise Doumeki with all of this tomorrow at school. Mostly, he couldn't wait to see Toa, Kenji, Hiroko, Yumi, and Aya again. Yuko would have to give him the week off. It would be madness if she didn't and he could always bribe her with bringing back okonomiyaki.

This time, he and Doumeki wouldn't go to discover what the snow was hiding. This time they would discover what the snow had to offer.

**Poison:** OMG DONE. Good morning, everyone. I say that because I'm writing this very sentence at 4:35 in the morning. I had to finish. And now I'm barely keeping myself awake. It's a good thing I'm on summer vacation. Oh! There's so much I want to say, but since I'm tired, I'll just say thank you. Thank you for reading and reviewing and encouraging me to finish this story that never seemed to end. Thank you for bearing with all of my mistakes and slip-ups. Despite the throbbing in my fingers from typing, I had a lot of fun. More stories are on the way (hopefully) so be on the lookout! Lol, I think I hear my dad getting ready for work. Boo, now I'm sad that it's all come to an end… Man, I had a lot of trouble with the word omelet. I kept spelling it the French way on accident… Oh, and if you listen to Lovers in Japan by Coldplay, you can really get a feel for this chapter.

I'd like to give some special thanks to some very special people:

TwelfBell first and foremost. We talked about my flaws and I really think it helped. Thank you so much. Please check out her stories! She's written some excellent DouWata stories. Check out her profile, for me and for her.

Shinku Anrui, I will once again declare my love for you. Your reviews always make me smile and you are beyond wins. You are super wins. Please check her out too. Look at her deviantart! Her name is SasuNarufan5.

Dem Bones, I promise to get started on your story now that this one's finished.

I'd like to thank all my reviewers. You're all special to me and I've made it a point to reply to everyone I could (meaning those who were logged on when they reviewed so that I could actually reply).

I'd like to thank my friend I know in real life who listened to me read her the first chapter over the phone and told me to keep going. You know who you are, you lazy bum! Get to writing that first chapter of that Allen/Kanda story so that I can write the second chapter already!

Oh, and I guess I should thank my parents for buying the computer and paying for the internet that allowed me to post this.

Thank you for reading my long story about Wata-nudie and Dou-nekkid. Lol. That's what they're called in bed.

Now for footnotes:

*Gyros- This is a Greek dish of lamb and it's also the name of a Greek restaurant in the city that I live in. I decided to use it for the story.

**dolmades- This is a Greek dish that consists of rice and beef wrapped in grape leaves. I tried it this year while on a trip to San Diego and it rocked.

***Kampai- simply Japanese for 'cheers!'

****King Louis XIV- for those of you who don't know, he was one of the most famous of the French kings, often called the Sun King. He was very vain and really lazy. It was said that he had people carry him places when he didn't feel like walking.

I wasn't kidding about Greek olives. I tried one recently and they're a salty disaster. Don't eat them

The idea for the cream in the Italian soda came from one of my friends. We were eating at Gyros when she recommended two creams in my vanilla Italian soda and it was like heaven had descended into my cup. Try it sometime.

Sorry this is so long. It's just so hard to say goodbye!

So you all again,

Poison-and-Foxglove

It's now 5:30 and I seriously need to get some sleep. I see the light of the sun through my window and that is not good. I have stuff to do tomorrow.


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